


Shooting the Moon

by mizufallsfromkumo



Category: Common Law
Genre: Alpha!Travis, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Omega!Wes, Private Investigators, Runaway, Teenage!Wes, future sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-28
Updated: 2014-05-19
Packaged: 2018-01-06 10:48:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1105906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mizufallsfromkumo/pseuds/mizufallsfromkumo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wes' whole life was turned upside down when he went into heat when he was fourteen, leading to a break in his families long line of Alpha births.  Suddenly forced to fit to a life that will be decided for him, Wes packed his things and disappeared.  For two years he's been running from his family and anyone who finds an interest in his scent.  But then he gets stuck in an animal track.  He's saved by an Alpha, who ends up showing him to a pack where he could make his own choices.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Something to Lose

**Author's Note:**

> So, ta-da! This is my new fic that I started writing like 3 days ago, and I have like three chapters already. God, my summary of this is horrible!
> 
> Common Law doesn't really have a werewolf fic, so I decided to cave and give it one, and also go for an underage fic as well. And when I say underage, I mean Wes is 16 (going on 17), meaning he is legally underage, while Travis is 20 (going on 21) and not. But a four year age gap isn't horrible to me, but that's still sort of questionable in the minds of some people. 
> 
> Also this is a werewolf fic, but werewolves are actually know about, save a select few people (you'll see what I mean). I've taken some ideas of read in other werewolf fics, and maybe giving them a twist, maybe not...but yeah. And it's also Alpha/Beta/Omega (because we could always use more of them) so there will be future sex and future mpreg (but probably a bit in the distance). 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy this!

_If you just would have stayed home this wouldn’t have happened._   Wes mentally scolded himself.   And he was right.  If he would have just stayed home, instead of running away two years ago, his left front paw would no doubt be free and unharmed by the animal trap.  He wouldn’t be trapped for someone’s easy pickings.  He would have been warm and safe.

 _And handed over to the Alpha that convenienced your father most._   His brain countered.

Wes gave a pained whine, because it was true.  His father would have handed off to which ever Alpha could offer him the most benefits in return, with not guarantee of Wes’ happiness or wellbeing.  For all Wes knew he could be handed off to someone who only paid attention to him in his heat and he was miserably left alone most of the time.  It was one of the reasons he ran away in the first place.  Being a male Omega, the rarest of the rare, others would give anything to have him.

He didn’t want his life to be decided for him but others.  He wanted to live and decided like he was told he could as a child.  A child that his parents assumed was an Alpha.   Well, that was till his first heat caused him to double over at age fourteen.  Wes will never forget the look in his father’s eyes when he found him curled up on the floor crying from the heat and pain, and admitting pheromones.  That was when everything changed.

Suddenly, he couldn’t do anything.  Wes couldn’t talk unless he was spoken to, he couldn’t look anyone directly in the eye and challenge them.   All ‘yes sir’, ‘no sir’, and nothing in between.  He was expected to just submit to ever choice made to him.  He couldn’t get in fights with his cousins anymore, because God forbid he hurt their egos or himself.   His father hired an Omega tutor to shape him into the ideal Omega and beat out the unwanted habits his freedoms had given him.  A bodyguard was hired as well.  Wes’ father didn’t look him at him anymore, and his mother tried to make it seem like nothing changed but Wes knew it had.

For six months he tried to put up with it and couldn’t.  So he packed his things and vanished into the night.  It wasn’t easy at first, but over the course of two years he knew more than anything how to fend for himself.  He did not want to die from bleeding out because of an animal trap.

He gave another whine as moved to lick his wounds.  All he had to do was shift back into his human form and he could free himself from the trap.  However he was locked in his white and tan wolf form because of his panic and pain.  The trap had caught him by surprise when he was running along.  In the panic of the moment he had tried to wiggle himself free, but that only resulted in him hurting himself more.  Now all he could do was lay there and lick at his wounds, while he withered in pain and waited for the end.   Wes was pretty sure his bone was broken, and he had torn up his damaged his leg more trying to get out.

God, why was he such an idiot?  How did he not see the stupid trap?  More importantly, why did he let himself panic into a shift lock?  Wes gave a sigh, as he shifted a bit on the ground to get slightly more comfortable.  There was nothing left for him to get then accept fate.

It feels like hours past, when Wes heard movement in the brush.  His immediately perked up, raising his head and ears in curiosity.  A panic set in as he tried to figure out what was coming for him and if it was going to help him or hurt him.  Then he smelt it, the thick, strong smell of an Alpha, and dread pooled in his stomach. 

Wes hurried to his feet, giving a sharp yelp as the movement caused pain to shoot through his limb.  He let out a low growl as the Alpha seemed to hurry towards him.  A few moments later an all-black wolf with blue eyes came through the bush.  It was bigger them him, Wes is an Omega, most other wolf-forms were.  The black wolf has its ears at attention and its tail was swaying a bit with interest, but it seemed like it was trying to come off as unthreatening as possible.  Wes’ ears instantly flattened against his head, and baring his teeth at the sight of it.

The other wolf made a slow approach towards him, keeping its head reasonably low to be held more in interest than anything else.  Wes let the Alpha near, giving out a growl in warning.  The wolf gave a sort of whining snort, but took some more caution in its movements.

Wes let it close, keeping his teeth bare and watching the other carefully.  The black wolf carefully sniffed at Wes’ paw.  Wes gave a sharp growl when it lightly licked at the wounds, only to get a deep warning growl in return.  A growl that would probably knock every other Omega off their feet and into a reasonably submissive state, but Wes isn’t so easily phased; despite is brain telling him to stand down.  The wolf nudged at the trap lightly with its nose, sending a wave of pain up Wes’ leg.  Wes gave a loud yelp and turned sharply to give the black wolf a sharp bite.

The black wolf managed to pull away before Wes could bite down, and it smartly gave him some space.  Wes laid back down with a series of new painful whines and licked his wounds more, as he watched the other wolf.  The Alpha gave a sigh, before it shifted into a mocha skin colored man who had to be in his early twenties. 

The man was naked, like werewolves tended to be when they shifted, and nakedness isn’t something wolves are usually shy over.  Wes still respectively avoided looking at his lower half.  His body was toned, with broad shoulders.  His had a strong jaw line with a light shadow of a beard.  A friendly smile was on his lips, and his eyes were surprisingly still blue, but it wasn’t uncommon for a werewolf’s wolf form to have a similar eye color as their human one.    Wes still watched him carefully.

“Look I get that you’re hurt and scared,” the man said in a calm tone, as he reached towards Wes.  Wes’ ears are flat against his head.  “But I only want to help you, okay.”  The Alpha slowly inched forward, grabbing Wes’ front leg lightly.  Wes knew he wasn’t trying to hurt him, but it still cause a pain in to race through him.  He whimpered, but resisted the urge to lash out.   “Yeah, sorry, really not trying to hurt you.”  The Alpha said honestly.  “But, I can’t help it, especially with this.”  He said as he touched the trap lightly with his free hand. 

He moved it just the slightest, and Wes can’t resist going for his arm and sinking his teeth in.  He got fierce growl in return, and the Alpha gave him a sharp look.  Wes slowly let go after a brief stare off with the Alpha, but eventually his Omega brain won out.  Wes put his head on the ground, glancing away from the man with his ears down.  He simply whined in pain as the man seemed to look for a way to free him form the trap. 

Eventually he found one.  The springs in the trap sound, and the pressure is suddenly gone from Wes’ front leg.  He quickly pulled it to him, getting to his feet, only to clumsily fall over with some dizziness.  The Alpha chuckled a bit as he neared Wes.  Wes bared his teeth in warning as he scrambled to his feet again, but his paw down and collapsing in pain.  What was with his stupidity streak today?

“Hey, easy there baby,” The Alpha said lightly, as Wes just looked up at him miserably.  He was exhausted for some strange reason, probably blood loose, and he just wanted to be left alone.  Maybe he should just accept whatever fate this Alpha was going to give him.  “Let’s get you out of here and to some help.”  The Alpha patted Wes’ head lightly, as if trying to calm him.   “I’m just going to pick you up and get you out of here, okay?”

Slowly the man reached down to pick Wes up, sliding his arms under Wes body and lifting him.  He did with relative ease, which seemed to surprise him.  Wes understood, he was probably light, he couldn’t remember the last time he really sat down and had to good meal that filled him completely.  He didn’t fight the Alpha’s hold as he straightened up, and he could smell the relief in the Alpha’s scent when he didn’t.  For the first time in his life, he was too tried to, and he didn’t mind curling up in the scent on an Alpha.    Wes let himself dose off, feeling strangely safe with the Alpha.


	2. Wide Eyed Looking for Excuse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wes woke up with a bit of a start, panicking. The last thing he remembers was the Alpha picking him up and starting to carry him away. Now there was something weighing on his stomach and he was in a strange place with strange smells.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! This took me a bit longer than I wanted, but I did it. I'm not sure if I want to stay two chapters ahead, or one. I'll have to see how much writing I get done. I start school again next week so bare with me.

“Travis, you better had a fucking good reason for calling me out of the blue and asking for a favor.  You lost that right a long time ago.”  A muffled voice called.

“Will you stop yelling for five seconds and see what I have for you?”  The sound of a trunk opening.  “Jonelle!  There’s no way you can see him completely from over there.”

“Oh, he’s beautiful.  What happened to his paw?”

“Caught in an animal trap in the woods.  It looked like he’d been there for a while, and his dosed off pretty quick, probably do to blood loss.  He gave a bit of a fight at first, but once he was free he just gave up.”

“Oh the poor thing.  Trapped and hurt, then you come along with your hulking mass of black fur.  I’d give a fight too.”

“He’s also an Omega.”

“A what?”

“Omega.  It’s a werewolf thing, never mind.”  Another pause.  “Can you help him?”  Another brief pause.  “Jonelle, where the hell are you going?”

“To go call Randi.  Bring him in and put him on the table.”

* * *

Wes woke up with a bit of a start, panicking.  The last thing he remembers was the Alpha picking him up and starting to carry him away.  Now there was something weighing on his stomach and he was in a strange place with strange smells.    The only thing that made sense was the fact that his left paw ached slightly, but way less then when he remembered. 

In his panic, he had startled whatever was weighing down on his stomach.  Wes turned at the sound of its dog-like grumbles, to find a German Shepard blinking at him.  Its ears were perky and it was waging its tail and panting happily.   It was curled up in the space between his front and back legs.  Wes rolled onto his stomach a bit, and leaned to sniff the dog, which smelt just like a simple male dog.  The dog panted happily, before licking Wes’ snout and then dropping his head back on Wes’ fur.  Wes also noticed his paw had been tended too and wrapped, and it felt like it was wrapped in a way that would stay when he shifted.

Wes turned his attention to the room surround him.  It was rather simple, reminding him a bit of a doctor’s office.  It explained some of the clean and sanitary smells that he was picking up on.  He listened for a moment, hearing the sound of some other animals in the distance, along with the lingering smell of other dogs besides the one cuddling with him.  His put the pieces together in his brain and came to the conclusion that he was in a veterinarian office, or animal hospital of some kind.  It was a little weird, especially when Wes really didn’t smell the Alpha who saved him.   He smelt more traces than the actual man being there physically.

Wes didn’t want to think too much into it.  For now he was reasonably fine, all he had to do was worry about getting away.  Glancing around the room some more, Wes spotted some scrubs that had been folded and placed on a chair.   Wes got to his feet, whimpering as his left paw throbbed with pain when he put it down.  He shifted back into his human form and walking over.  The dog beside him got up as well, giving a bark and wagging his tail.  Wes shushed him.

Quickly, Wes snatched up the scrubs, which were just slightly too big for him, and hurriedly put them on.  He hissed a bit as his wrist throbbed with pain at the movement, but he figured in a few hours it would be good as new.   Wes looked around the room for some shoes, but didn’t find any, but he could still make a run for it he figured and find shoes later.

He made his way a door, one that pushed open.  The dog trotted happily beside him, watching Wes as he listened for anything.  He doesn’t hear much aside from the chatter of a TV in the distance.  Slowly he pushed open the door a bit, so he could peek out to see what was on the other side.  The dog slipped past him and out the opening in the door, and trotting off into the distance.  Completely ignoring Wes’ whispered for it to come back.  With a huff, Wes had no choice but to try and book it. 

“Good, the scrubs were relatively your size.”  A female voice said from the opposite direction of where the dog wondered off it.  Wes jumped, whipping around to find a woman about his height, maybe slightly shorter, with straight black hair pulled up in a ponytail.  She was dressed in scrubs as well, she had to be a good ten years old than him in the least, and she smelled human and also like Chinese food.  “We took a guess.  I had a feeling you’d be a bean pole.”  She continued.  “I must admit though, I wasn’t expecting you to be a teen wolf.  You’re a cute little thing.”

“Uh…”  Wes said oddly.  He felt like a deer in headlights, completely caught in his escape.  Plus the way the woman was talking it sounded like she knew about werewolves.  “Thanks.”

“How’s the leg?  Or wrist I suppose is the correct term right now.”  The woman said with a kind grin.

“It still hurts, but it should be good in a few hours.”  Wes said holding out his wrist for her to see.  He gave her a weak smile, as she gave a nod. 

He opened his mouth to say a thank you for caring for him, but a sharp bark from the dog cut him off.  Wes turned to the sound, when another bark came.  Then all of a suddenly the dog came trotting down the hall again, tail wagging and happy pant.  A dark skinned woman came rushing after him, with a sharp hush and a call of ‘Hudson!’, before she glanced up to see Wes and the other woman.  She was dressed in scrubs as well, only her hair was down and slightly curled.  She blinked at him, before giving him a wide smile.

“Oh, you’re finally awake.”  The other woman said with some surprise in her tone.  “I was wondering how Hudson got out.  This explains it.” 

The first woman walked around him, giving the dog, Hudson, a sharp sound, when he seemed to try and get into her bags.  Wes stared at the two women, his eyes darting between them.  He didn’t know what to do.  They were both human, but he wasn’t sure he could trust him.  For all he knew they worked for the Alpha who found him’s pack and were keeping him there.  Yet it still seemed rude for him to just try and go for the door, especially when he has no clue where in the world he really is.  Plus he was hungry and they had food.

“Where are my manners?”  The first woman asked suddenly.  “I’m Dr. Jonelle Coppola, but you can call me Jonelle. “  She held out her hand for Wes to shake, and he hesitated a bit.  She doesn’t seem to mind it.

“I’m Randi, and you’ve already meet Hudson.”  The second woman said gesturing to the dog.

“Um…Nice to meet you,” Wes said, still cautious about them, they seemed to notice his edge but don’t overly mind it.  “I’m Wes.”

“Nice to finally have a name to call you, Wes.”  Jonelle said with a grin.  “Hungry?” 

Wes started at her for a second.  God, he wanted to eat.  The smells of the Chinese food were attempting to seduce him with pork, steak, and chicken.  More than anything he wanted to say yes.  Hell if anything they already knew he was hungry, Jonelle was asking to be polite.  Yet deep down he knew he had to get out of there and run.   He needed to get out of there before he was forced into something he didn’t want.

He sucked in a deep breath through his mouth, and gripped the door a bit tightly.  “No actually, I’m okay right now,” He lied.  “I really should get going.  I have things to do.  But…um…thank you for the treatme—” His stomach betrayed him, and let out a loud miserably grumbling sound. 

Jonelle raised an eyebrow at him.  “Clearly you’re not hungry at all.”  She said sarcastically.  She turned to Randi before both giggled.  “Besides you can’t leave.”

“Why,” Wes breathed in a panic, paling at the words, he worst nightmare was coming true because he trusted someone.    His dread caused Hudson to whine and go to his side quickly, like he was trying to tell him it was okay.  It wasn’t.

“Because you look like you could use a few good meals and nice place to sleep.”  Jonelle said easily.  “And I don’t let my patients leave unless their well taken care of, or I know they’ll be well taken care of.”  She grinned kindly.  “You are no exception.”

Wes tried to say something in return, but couldn’t seem to find the right thing to say.  He knew he needed to get out of there, but at the same time he knew Jonelle was right.  He hadn’t eaten decently in days.  Not to mention for the past few days he’s been sleeping on the forest ground, never full falling asleep, afraid he’ll wake up to someone trying to claim him.    He fidgeted a bit, and bit his lip, glancing down at Hudson was just staring up at him.

“We’re not under orders from anyone to keep you here, Wes.”  Randi said suddenly.  Wes looked up at her immediately, finding a rather honest expression on her face.  “Well, aside from Jonelle, no one is ordering you to stay.  Travis mentioned you might be…concerned about that, for reasons he really didn’t explain.”

Wes glanced between them, from what he could tell they were being truthful.  He glanced down at Hudson, who started panting and him happily.  Part of him trusted the two women.  Another part of him was screaming to book it out there when they weren’t looking and never come back.  Yet a reasonably large part of him was too hunger and too tired to refuse a safe place to stay and rest for a while. 

“Okay,” Wes said carefully.  “But…um…who’s Travis?”

“He’s an asshole, who brings in way too many strays,” Jonelle said quickly.  Randi snorted and rolled her eyes, but still gave a nod like she reasonably agreed with part of the statement.  “Now come on, I bought more than enough Chinese food.  I know you werewolves like to eat.”  Jonelle said holding up the bags in her hand and gave a smile. 

Jonelle started down the hall, leaving no more room for argument.  Randi smiled and turned to follow after her, calling for Hudson.  The dog trotted after her quickly, glancing back at Wes to see if was coming along.  It was a good time to run, but he didn’t take it.  He followed after the two women and Hudson rather curiously.

They came to a front desk/nurses station sort of area.  There was a waiting room on the other side of the opening above two computers, probably for checking animals in, and a door that lead into the hallway they came from on the same wall.  There was a window on one side, and parallel to that there was a series of checkup rooms for the animals.  On the opposite side of the check in opening, was the checking out opening. 

Wes glanced around as he entered the area.  Hudson had plopped down on a dog bed in the corner of it, while Randi and Jonelle were shifting through the bags by the check in area.  Wes took a seat at one of the computers, spinning in the chair slightly.  Jonelle handed him a bag of food, suddenly, and shoving a paper plate and some plastic utensils at him.  He grinned a bit in thanks, before being down and wondering how in the world he was going to repay them for this meal…or hell, even his treatment.  He didn’t have any money on him.  He didn’t have _much_ money to begin with.  However the money he did have was all back with his things at his camp.  Which was in the forest, which was god knew how far away it was.

He groaned.  All of his things were in still in the forest.  Where anyone could find them and get his scent.  Forget about robbing him, Wes was more worried about how many Alphas and Betas had got his scent and were out looking for him.  He was such an idiot, giving up the fight.  He should have limped back to his things, fended the Alpha off as much as he could.  Who knew how many people he had on his tail now?

“What’s wrong?”  Randi asked, knocking Wes out of his thoughts. 

“Nothing,” He lied, because he wasn’t sure they would understand.   “I just remembered I don’t have money to pay for this and…uh…the care you’ve given me.”  Wes said steadily, which in a way was some of the truth.

“Don’t worry about!”  Jonelle said with a wave of her hand as she dumped some Chicken Cashew on some rice.  “I’m billing Sutton’s pack for everything.”  She smiled widely and turned to Wes.  “After all, it was one of his pack members that brought you in, it’s only fair.  Plus, it will hopefully teach a certain someone to call me out of the blue and ask for a favor they don’t deserve.”

Wes glanced at her oddly, before nodding a bit.  He didn’t mind someone else footing the bill, but at the same time, he doesn’t want a pack to hold something over his head.  Paying for something like that would be reasonable argument for a claim to Wes should anyone else try to step in and take him.  _We paid for his care, there for he is our object to handle_.  He frowned a bit at the thought, but maybe he would get lucky and they would just foot the bill and kindly let him go on his way.  Wes doesn’t put much hope into the idea.

He turned to the bag of food in his lap.  He placed in on the counter, then dug in and pulled out a quart size order of pork fried rice.  Wes opened it, the smell hitting him rather hard he ignored his paper plate and started eating out of contain.  It wasn’t the best Chinese food ever, but it was pretty damn amazing for someone who was rather hungry.  Wes inhaled half of it before he had the sense to try and savor it, or even worried about manners.  Yet, it didn’t seem like Jonelle or Randi really minded.  They just sort of smiled with a mix of worry and knowing.

For the first time in a while, Wes eats his fill with company he felt safe with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jonelle didn't have a listed last name, so I gave her the actress's last name, and it kind of works. Also, Wes is shorter in this fic because he is younger. Warren and Michael are the same height, but in this fic Wes is still growing and he still as another growing spurt in him. Just wanted to point that out now, because Travis and Wes were sort of the tallest people in the series (save Morgan).
> 
> Any way, hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	3. The Choice to Choose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wes eyes widened when he recognized from when the Alpha save him. He whipped around to indeed find the Alpha, clothed this time, grinning at him from the step by the doorway, Hudson was circling him happily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a bit. I started up school again, and I don't know how my schedule will be working out. Also I'm going camping this coming weekend and I might have to bring my computer to work on some school stuff, but I might be about to get some writing done, I'm not completely sure. So it's hard to tell when the next update might be, and now I'm one chapter ahead of everyone instead of two.

Wes ended up staying at the veterinarian office longer than he thought.  Jonelle had manage to talk him into staying.  Said he wasn’t one hundred percent even though his wrist had healed up hours after their dinner.  She persuaded him with a place to sleep, food to eat, and safe company.  It wasn’t something Wes was willing to pass up easily.  Though the thought that staying here might drive other wolves to his location had him wavering on the need for him to leave.  Then Randi sort of gave him a job.

The morning after his first night there, it was a business day for the office, and another veterinarian nurse stumbled upon Wes.  They had questioned Wes’ presence and Randi said he was a new intern.  The nurse had nodded and smiled before going on their way.  So for the rest of that day Wes had to act like an intern, which wasn’t completely difficult.  Some filing, some calling patients, but Jonelle most stuck him in the back, tending to the boarded animals.

He hadn’t minded.  They were all well-behaved, but that was mostly due to his scent.  Omegas often had a scent that put everyone at ease.  As his tutor had told him once, it’s sort of gives a homey feel, but Wes had thought that was total bull shit.  Besides, Omegas were naturally submissive, as much as Wes refuses to, which leads to a calmer domineer.  Some of the other veterinarian techs and nurse had just sort of chalked it up to him being good with animals.

Working for the office hadn’t made Wes feel so guilty about staying there and eating meals for a small family.  Plus it no doubt made him feel like he could make an argument for his worth, should the Sutton Pack try to claim him.  That made him a little bit more comfortable.  As did the fact that every time he went outside to take some of the dogs out to exercise, there weren’t any lingering scents of any other werewolves. 

He was outside with a small group of dogs they were running around and playing well with each other.  Hudson was sitting coolly by his side, over is time there Randi had let Hudson stay and the two had sort of bonded.  All of a sudden Hudson tore himself away from Wes, tearing for the door; Wes figured it was Randi coming out to get some fresh air. 

“So this is what you like,” A deep voice said. 

Wes eyes widened when he recognized from when the Alpha save him.  He whipped around to indeed find the Alpha, clothed this time, grinning at him from the step by the doorway, Hudson was circling him happily.   Suddenly the Alpha’s smell hit him, and he knew it was the black wolf that had saved him.  Wes stomach pooled with dread and panic, and his unease, made the dogs slightly uneasy as well.  He swallowed in an attempt to collect himself but it didn’t work.

“I have to admit, you weren’t exactly what I pictured.”  The Alpha said in a friendly tone.  “I figured you’d be skinny, but didn’t think you’d be awkward, still-growing skinny.”  Wes shot him a sharp glare which just seemed to make the Alpha chuckle.  “I really did not figure you to be a teen wolf, baby.”

“Don’t call me baby.”  Wes growled lowly in a mix of warning and fear.

The Alpha just blinked at him, before stepping off the step and towards Wes.  Wes instantly took a step back, cursing when he remember he back was to a fence and he only had a set number of steps.  The Alpha paused suddenly at the motion, however.   Wes watched him carefully, trying not to panic, though he was sure the Alpha was already on to his distress and fear.  After a moment the Alpha sighed and squatted down, reaching out to pet Hudson who dove into his personal space quickly.  Wes just kept staring at the Alpha in shock of the movement.  He knew instantly the Alpha was letting Wes come to him, letting Wes decide if he was a threat or not, letting Wes get comfortable in his own approach.  It was not something that Alphas usually did, usually they tore forward and did what they wanted.

“So how old are you kid?”  The Alpha asked with a pleasant grin, glancing up at Wes who still staring at him with wide eyes. 

The questioned knocked Wes out of his staring.  “I’m not a kid!”  He snarled in return.

“You aren’t exactly an adult.”  The Alpha said smartly.  Wes wanted to kick him.  “Can you just answer the question?”

“Of course I _can_ answer the question.”  Wes returned just as smartly.  He didn’t want to make it easy for the Alpha, yet at the same time he knew he should be pushing him.  Still, he’s been shoved into a situation he didn’t want, and he wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

“Okay, Grammar Nazi,” The Alpha groaned with a roll of his blue eyes.  “ _Will_ you just answer the question?”

Wes grinned at bit at the fact that he was getting on the Alpha’s nerves slightly.  He knew if he wasn’t very ‘yes sir, no sir’ it turned people off to the idea of him.  He had turned more than enough suitors off by being that way, much to his father’s displeasure.  People liked Omegas that just what they were told.  But the Alpha was already letting Wes had some of the power of the situation, and as much as Wes wanted to take advantage of that, the Alpha is being surprisingly patient with him.

“I turn seventeen in a few months.”  Wes admitted, taking a step closer as Hudson parted from the Alpha and came to his side. 

The Alpha gave a nod.  “How’s the paw?”

“Fine.”  Wes responded curtly.

“Okay,” The Alpha said after a moment.  “And how are you holding up?  You didn’t seem so sharp when I found you.”

“I’m fine.”  Wes supplied.

“Yes, that you are.”  The Alpha said in deep tone as Wes noticed his eyes scanning his body.  It caused a bit of stir in Wes’ stomach, but he shoved it away and growled deeply and threatening.  It made all the dogs in the area stop for a moment and look at him to see what was wrong.  The Alpha jumped a bit at it as well, before seeming to notice his mistake.  “That was a compliment.”  The Alpha said in defense.

“No it wasn’t.”  Wes snapped.

“Technically it is.”  The Alpha said.  “Just because I said it with a slightly flirting tone,” Wes glared at the word flirting, the Alpha ignored him.  “That doesn’t mean what was said wasn’t a compliment.”

“Yes, it does.”  Wes replied crossing his arms.

“No, it doesn’t.”

“It does.”  Wes said laying down the law.

“It doesn’t.” The Alpha challenged.

Wes huffed for a second before surging forward.  “A compliment is when you say you like something about someone, like their hair, their personality, or their shirt.”  Wes lectured.

“I was saying I liked the way your body looked.”  The Alpha shot back, standing up.  “Therefore it was a compliment.”

“It was vulgar and therefore not a compliment.”  Wes said not phased by the fact that the Alpha stood up.  In fact he jabbed at his chest to make his point when he reached him.  “Not. A. Compliment.”  He beat out, before giving a huff of frustration.  He glared at up the Alpha, who was a good few inches taller than him.  A smile just spread across the Alpha’s face, and all of Wes’ challenging energy drained away.  “Why are you smiling?”

“Because,” The Alpha grinned, “you’re standing a foot away from me, instead of yards away.”

 _Fuck!_   Wes cursed as he realized his mistake.  He had gotten so frustrated he had just stormed forward and approached the Alpha.  That was what the man had been trying to get him to do, and in his frustration, Wes hadn’t prolonged it like he wanted to.  Wes quickly stumbled back a few steps, but he had already been in the Alpha’s space, which meant he was comfortable.  Not to mention he had challenged him in something other than defense, which meant Wes clearly didn’t take him as a threat.  Great, he screwed that to hell.

“Look,” The Alpha said with a sigh.  “Clearly we got off on the wrong foot.”

“Oh, really, I thought this was the right foot.”  Wes hissed, and the Alpha visibly bit back something to say.

The Alpha grumbled something Wes didn’t quiet catch.  It was something about a cactus, and Wes gave him a sharp glare.  “I’m Travis Marks,” The Alpha said holding out his hand for Wes to shake.  He started at for a moment, hesitating on what to do.  Travis sort of moved it to encourage Wes to take it.  “And you are?”

“Wes,” Wes answered after a bit of a pause.  He took Travis’ hand slowly and gave it a light, hesitant shake.  Travis raised an eyebrow, silently asking for more from him.  Wes sighed and added, “Mitchell.  Wes Mitchell.”

“Very nice to meet you Wes,” Travis said smiling and giving their hands a solid and somewhat childish shake. 

“Can’t say I feel the same.”  Wes grumbled to himself under his breath.  If Travis heard him he didn’t say anything.  Jonelle had been right when she said Travis was an asshole, well, that was is this Travis was the same Travis.

A silence settled on them for a moment.  Wes shifted awkwardly, fiddling with the ends of the scrubs he was wearing.  He turned to look at the Alpha beside him, watching him closely to see what he would do.  Travis seemed to be watching the dogs interact.  There were slightly more energetic on his arrival, and played a bit more roughly then when Wes had just been watching them.  It was somewhat nice, and it helped Wes feel a little bit more comfortable than before.

"So, what’s an unmated, teenage Omega like you camping out alone in the forest?”  Travis said breaking their silence.  He turned and found Wes staring at him, grinning knowingly.

Wes huffed and turned away, crossing his arms and looking at the dogs.  “It’s none of your concern.”  Then something Travis said hit him.  “How did you know I was camping out alone?”  Wes asked quickly.

“I found your stuff.”  Travis said with a shrug, like it was obviously no big deal.  “See Randi kicked me out when all the dogs were getting upset.  I didn’t have anything better to do, so I figured I try and find you clothes, but then I found a whole pack of stuff.  Seriously looked like you were living out of the bag I found.”  Travis said, looking Wes over some kind of response he didn’t seem to get.  “Either way, I grabbed your things to spare you the trip ba—”

“You have my things!”  Wes said quickly, turning quickly to Travis.  The darker man blinked at him for a moment before nodding.  “Great, give them to me.”

Travis opened him mouth to say something, then closed it.  “I can’t.”  He said after a beat.  Wes’ expression dropped and he frowned.  What did Travis mean he can’t give him his things?  “I don’t have them with me.”  He said honestly.  “They’re back at my pack’s residence, safe and sound.”

“No,” Wes moaned in dread.  God he had been hoping the pack and him would never have to interact.  After all no werewolf had appeared to check in on him, yet maybe they called every day he had been there.   “No, no no no no.”

“Hey, relax man.”  Travis said quickly lightly patting at his shoulder.  “It’s not what you think.  Yeah, my Alpha wants to meet you, but he won’t force you to stay if you don’t want to.”  Wes doesn’t let himself believe it.  He’s heard more hollow promises from people’s he trusted to not to cave into that one so easily.  “Look, we just want to help.  We all know a street wolf when we see one.”

“How do you kn—”

“Please, that was the easiest thing to figure out about you.”  Travis said with a wave of his hand.  “You’re too much of a firecracker to take anything sitting down so you ran away, or you family kicked you out cause you scared off all of your suitors.”  Wes glared at him in response, and Travis chuckled.  “So you want to come with me and get your things and sleep on a bed, or keep crashing here to Jonelle kicks you to the curb.”

“I would never kick Wes to the curb, he’s a sweetheart!”  Jonelle’s voice shouted suddenly, causing bother wolves to turn.  Jonelle was glaring out of window she had cracked up, to no doubt see if she could ease drop on them.  “Unlike you, Travis!”  She added.

“Didn’t you mother teach eavesdropping was rude.”  Travis shot back.

“I would think one of your mothers would have taught you to not be an asshole.”  Jonelle hissed back.  “Guess I was wrong.”  She added before cracking the window shut quickly.  Wes bit his tongue as his eyes flicked between Travis and the window for a moment.  So they were the same Travis.

Travis growled in the wake of the closed window, before he turned to Wes.  He grinned at Wes like nothing had happened.  Wes just raised an eyebrow, but Travis didn’t seem to notice, or he didn’t acknowledge it if he did.  “So what do you say?”

Wes took a breath.  He needed to get his things so he could carry on with his running away.  Yet at the same time, he didn’t want to walk into a trap, but at some time he would have to leave the veterinarian office.   There never seemed to be an easy choice for him.  Runaway and face the dangers of the world alone or have his life decided for him and be handed off to someone.  Figure out what was more important, food, shelter, or clothes.  Go with Travis and get his things with a small hope they might let him go, or stay with Jonelle and ultimately have to leave at some point.

“Fine, I’ll go with you.”  Wes said with a sigh.  “But only if you swear on both your forms that I can walk out your packs whenever I wish come morning.”  Wes wasn’t going to let the opportunity to sleep on a bed pass him up.

Travis watched him for a moment.  Swearing on both forms was a serious thing in werewolf culture.  It wasn’t something that was used lightly.  It wasn’t just the human swearing on something; it was the wolf as well.  Ultimately, Wes was asking Travis to make it so no matter what, which could mean standing up to his Alpha to make it so, which wasn’t something to be taken lightly either.

“I swear on both my forms that you can leave whenever you want come morning.”  Travis said, putting his hand over his heart like he was making a pledge.  “Now come on, I have someone waiting on me.”

“There’s someone _else!”_ Wes squeaked.

Travis just smiled as he made his way to the door.  “He’s the only one who would give me a lift.  It’s cool though, he’s a Beta.”  It didn’t exactly make Wes feel any safer.


	4. It's Gonna Fall Fast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Travis grinned at him as the Beta rounded behind him with a kind smile and his hand held out. Wes sort of blinked at him, but he was slightly more comfortable with the Beta nearing him than he had been with Travis. “David Paek,” the Beta introduced himself simply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to update a chapter. School has been a bit busy but not overly so...just you know how things can get I suppose.

Jonelle half assed trying to talk Wes out of going with Travis when he told her he was leaving.  She knew he would eventually have to leave, because eventually the Sutton Pack would stop paying, or someone would catch onto the fact that he sleep there.  In reality it was for the best that Wes leave, and it was probably best for Wes to leave in the company of other werewolves.  However that didn’t stop her from slipping him on of her cards and jotting down her personal number on the back.  “So you can call me and I can see how you’re doing.  Or if you need a place to get away too.”  She said as Wes took the card.

Wes had just smiled and thanked her for everything.  He knew the likelihood of him coming back was narrow, and he didn’t want to give her false hope that he might return.  Though, Wes did find himself slipping the card secretively on of the pockets of the scrubs he was wearing.   He allowed Jonelle to give him a quick hug, before he took down the hallway towards the exit.  Jonelle didn’t come with him, saying she had to make sure Travis put the dogs correctly back in their kennels.

When Wes rounded the corner to the checkout side of the front desk/nurses station, he found Travis and some Asian guy who had to be about Wes’ height and Travis’ age, talking with Randi.  Wes figured the Asian guy was the Beta, simply because he perked up and turned as Wes neared; that and the only animal by his side was Hudson.  Travis grinned at him as the Beta rounded behind him with a kind smile and his hand held out.  Wes sort of blinked at him, but he was slightly more comfortable with the Beta nearing him than he had been with Travis.

“David Paek,” the Beta introduced himself simply.  “Everyone calls me Paekman, though.  It’s nice to put a face to the scent, Wes.”  Wes figured Travis already told David his name.

Wes took the Beta’s hand and gave it a light shake.  He was still nervous about going, yet he was slightly surprised to find David’s presence was helping him feel a bit more at ease.  “Nice to meet you,” Wes said slowly. 

David smiled pleasantly and pulled away, and politely taking a step back.  It was comforting to see that the pack members trying to make him comfortable.  “So, shall we head out?”  David asked, turning to Travis, though it seemed more like he was seek agreement rather than approval.

“Yes, please, before Jonelle finds something to blame me for.”  Travis said hurried.

Randi giggled a bit in her seat, before rising from her seat.  She gave David a small wave in parting, and reached out to pat Wes on the shoulder as he passed her, telling him he could no doubt swing by any time.  Wes just nodded as he patted Hudson on the head and made his way out the door, which David was politely holding up for him.

Wes gave him a nod of thanks, and let him fall in step beside him.  Travis was a few paces ahead of them.  His hands were in his pockets as he led the way the way to the park lot on the side of the building.  Travis stopped suddenly and turned to look back at them with a slightly confused expression on his face. 

“Paekman, where the hell did you park?”  Travis snapped.

“At the end.  Beside that big SUV down there.”  David snapped back, with a sharp point.  “If you would just keep walking like a normal person you’ll see it.”  Travis growled a bit at him, but there didn’t seem to be anything behind it.  The Alpha gave a huff and turned and continued walking.  David just waved him off.  “Hey you were the one that had to get out the car before I parked.”  Travis flipped him off and stormed a bit towards the car.  “He won’t admit it, but he was worried about you.”  David said leaning towards Wes a bit.

“Really?”  Wes asked a bit surprised. 

He could see an Alpha getting impatient and maybe a bit concerned for his conditioned.  However, he wasn’t sure about worried.  Especially when they just ran into each other in the forest a few days ago and they were still basically strangers.  It wasn’t like Wes had been fatally injured, so Travis knew he would heal and live.  There was no need for worry.

“Oh, yeah,” David said nodded.  “We all kind of been, in all fairness, but he’s been the worst for some reason.  Probably just because he found you.”

“Yeah, maybe.”  Wes said absently.

Eventually they reached the end of the sidewalk.  Wes hadn’t even notice Travis had stepped off to the side, but he was waiting by the passenger side door when they got there.  He didn’t seem to mind waiting.  He gave him a smile as they arrived and David unlocked the car.  David slide into the driver side, and Wes took a seat in the back.  He was glad there was sort of an obstacle to get to him if for some reason one of them tried to jump them.

“Let’s go.”  Travis said, drumming a bit on the dashboard as David started the car.  “Sutton will be pissed if we interrupt his mid-afternoon meditation.”  Travis glanced back at Wes who was glaring at him slightly.  “Though, your scent might mellow him out some.”

“My hands might slap you if you keep talking.”  Wes hissed in reply.

Travis gave him a pointed look, before he turned away.  David chuckled a bit beside him as he pulled out of the spot.  Wes liked the friction between them, mainly because it kept Travis off him for the most part. 

“Oh, yes, I can see this is going to be the start of a beautiful friendship.”  David said, glancing at them briefly, before turning his attention to driving.

\----  ----  ----

David pulled up behind a four story brick building that had to date back to the twenties or so.  That was if Wes was remembering correctly.  The building itself wasn’t overly impressive, but it wasn’t exactly where Wes was expecting them to take him.  Most wolves lived on the edge of society, or buried somewhere into the woods.  In large cities though, it made since that there were a little different.   It seemed like the first floor was some sort of store front, Wes had remembered seeing the glass windows of a store front, yet the business within did not seem overly advertise what it was.

Travis and David pushed out of the car once he parked.  Wes followed their example after a moment of collecting himself.  He pushed out the car door, and climbed out the back seat, letting his eyes follow the bricks as he straightened up.

“Pretty cool, huh.”  Travis said, snapping Wes a bit out of his looking.  He turned to find the Alpha leaning a bit on the passenger side across from him.  Wes gave a shrug in replay.  “Bet you thought we lived in some rusty old cabin in the woods.”

“You sort of seemed like the type.”  Wes replied smartly with a bit of a glare, and shut his car door with a little more force than what was probably necessary.

Travis gave him a challenging look in return.  The whole car ride had been a bit like that.  Travis would make some sort of comment, and Wes would make some reasonable smart reply, and they would just sort give each other looks.  For the most part though, David kept the conversation away from a possible verbal confrontation.  He asked questions about Wes’ life, which Wes answered as minimally as possible.  Neither pushed him for more, though Travis had grumbled, and Wes kicked at the back of his seat.  David had laughed and quickly changed the subject to something else.

Suddenly Travis drummed his hands on the roof of David’s car and pushed off it, he grinned a bit when he noticed he startled Wes.  “Alright, let’s head inside before Sutton gets too settled into anything.”  He started making his way towards the building.

David chuckled a bit from his spot beside the trunk of his car.  He waited for Wes to pass him a bit, before he fell in step beside him.  The walked in a bit of silence, David seemed to letting Wes take in his surrounds.  Where they were behind the building seemed to be parking for the residence and workers for the building, and maybe parking for some people who were coming for whatever business was at the bottom.  There were two doorways in the back, on seemed to serve as solely an entrance and exit for the business.  The other was a pair of doors, that most likely was for the resistance that anything else.

Travis was making his way to the double doors.  He was punching a code into a key pad as they neared.  A light flashed green, and Wes could hear the mechanics of door unlocking the door.  David reached for one of the doors, pulling it open and motioning for Wes to enter.  He did slowly, glancing around and the boring walls the area.

There was an elevator immediately parallel to the double doors.  A white door to ground floor was to his left, and the stairs were too his right.  David gave him a small nudge to head up the stairs, and both Travis and him stayed behind him.  We took a few quick steps up the stairs to but a small distance between him and the two others.  The second floor landing was similar to that of the first.

Wes was about to start up the stairs towards the third level, when Travis whistled sharply.  He pointed towards the door on the second floor landing as he made his way towards it.  He pushed in as David followed behind him shaking his head a bit.  Wes fell in step behind David, giving him a small thanks as he held the door open for Wes behind him. 

The door seemed to open up to a great room that was filled with desks, with computers and personal items of the people who used them.  Rolling boards seemed to be everywhere, a mixture of cork and white.  Maps, pictures, papers, and general collection of information seemed to be placed on them.  File cabinets lined some of the walls.  Some printers and copy machine were on the wall by some windows.  A small sort of break area was in the far corner of the room.  There was a hallway towards the front of the building; a serious of door lined it.  Over all it sort of made Wes feel like he was in a police station a bit. 

One of the doorways in the hallway opened, and a tall woman with short blonde hair came strolling out.  She was glancing at something in the folder she had in her hand with a smirk on her lips.  She was muttering to herself a bit as he made her way to her desk, before stopping and turning to glance up at Wes.  She looked like she was in her mid-twenties, and she smelled like a Beta.  Wes gave her a quick glance up and down, and she did the same thing, before a grin spread across her lips. 

“So, I take you’re the brave Omega that’s been trying to make it on their own.”  She said pleasantly.  Wes nodded in reply slowly, watching as she closed the folder in her hand and tossed it on a desk.  “Looks like Amy was right about you robbing the cradle, Travis.”  The woman smirked out as she crossed her arms and turned to Travis, who was shoveling around at a rather messy desk. 

“I am not!”  Travis growled sharply. 

The woman made a sound and Travis growled lower but she didn’t seem to mind.  “Whatever, you’re just lucky Amy is down stairs filling in a client on what we found on their vanishing ex.”  The woman said simply.   “Otherwise, she would be giving you so much crap right now.”   Her smirk widened at the grumbling for Travis.  She turned back to Wes and held out her hand.  “I’m Kate.”  She introduced.

“Wes,” Wes said as he took her hand for a shake.

“Hey, Kate, is Cap in?”  Travis asked suddenly, making his way around the desk.  He passed Wes and Kate, and started to make his way down the hallway.

“Yeah, he’s in his office.” She said easily, before glancing down at her watch.  “But you might want to wait before you disrupt him.”

Travis ignored her and he continued down the hallway.  Wes peeked around Kate a bit curiously as to what the Alpha was going to do.  Travis pounded at a door at the end on the hallway, and gave a loud short of someone named ‘Cap’.  Kate sighed and turned to her desk, taking a seat and just generally seeming to try and avoid the situation.  Wes heard David cluck his tongue and make his way towards Wes.  Wes felt some dread pool in his stomach when he realized it was probably The Alpha of the pack Travis was getting. 

A loud shout came from the room suddenly, and Travis just coolly seemed to open the door and lean in.  Travis hung in the doorway a bit.  Wes could see he was making some motions with his hands, but what he was saying was lost to the depths of the room.  Eventually, Travis moved out of the way and an older man came strolling out the office.  He wasn’t really what Wes expected it.  His hair was thinning a bit, he was about Wes’ height, and he was rounder in the middle than most werewolves.

It didn’t mean much.  Wes knew that older wolves could round out with age, yet still have a reasonably the same amount of bit as when they were younger.  He had meet plenty of older werewolves who were years past their primer young ages, but they were still not something to take lightly.  Especially not The Alpha of a pack.

The older man smiled widely as he made his way down the hall.  Wes tried to resist taking a step back, but his instincts he developed over the course of running for two years were too much to resist.  The head Alpha of the pack seemed to slow in his approach at Wes’ slight discomfort.  He seemed to understand Wes’ unease, as most of the other members had, and tried to make him a bit more comfortable.  Of course, the Alpha did still come up to him.

“So you’re the Omega from the woods,” He smiled out, like he was impressed with Wes.  Wes let himself smile a bit at the praise as he nodded in reply.  “I’m Mike Sutton, The Alpha of this pack.”  He smiled, bit didn’t hold out his hand, he just sort of motioned for Wes to take the lead on that.

“Wes Mitchell,” Wes introduced, holding out his hand hesitantly.

Mike Sutton gripped his hand securely and gave it a sharp shake.  “Mitchell, that sounds familiar.  That’s a pack name up near Chico, correct?”  He asked curiously.  Wes’ blood ran cold, because that was his families back.  Granted his back was an old one, and for all he knew Sutton might have dealt with them years in the past.

“Yes,” Wes said levelly, not willing to give away the fact that that was his pack.  His family was miles away, and there was no way word had reached so far sound so far.  Or Wes hoped not.  “But Mitchell is also a common name.”  He deflected.

Sutton raised a bit of an eyebrow, but he seemed to drop it.  “I take it you already meet Travis, and David.”  He said motion around the room like he really didn’t care where they were.  Wes nodded and glanced around, Travis was heading to his desk, and David was just sort of lingering some distance behind him.  “Have you meet Kate Cafferty, here?”  Sutton asked.

Kate glanced up at Sutton.  “We’ve already introduced ourselves, Cap.”  She said turning back to her paperwork.

“Ay, I see,” Sutton said soundly slightly disappointed he was a bit late to the meeting Wes party.  “Well, have anyone given you a tour?”  He asked. 

Wes opened his mouth to try and say he didn’t need a tour, he just wanted to stay the night and leave with his things.  Sutton seemed to almost know he was going to say that, and gave him a look.  Wes sighed; he supposed a tour wouldn’t hurt.  The fact that Sutton was asking made it feel like he was trying to recruit Wes for his pack, giving him a choice to stay or leave.  For that reason alone, Wes could see considering it. Omegas don’t usually get recruited by packs, their traded or taken. 

“No, we just came straight up here.”  Wes admitted.

Sutton smiled at him, wrapping an arm around Wes’ shoulder, which caused Wes to stiffen a bit at the touch.  “Well then, let’s change that.”  Sutton said, as he started to pull Wes towards the stairwell.  “After the tour, I want talk with you in private, about the whole alone in the woods thing.”  He said before he started explaining some of the details of his pack to Wes like he didn’t just drop that comment.


	5. Looking for a Root

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wes mentally kicked himself and instantly reached for the switch knife had had managed to get his hands on a months after he ran away. “You’re rather far from home, aren’t you, Wes?” Sutton asked with a knowing tone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at me, up dating a bit on a schedule! WHAT is this! 
> 
> Well whatever it is, here's another chapter for everyone. I'm surprised at how popular this story is getting. It's currently my fourth most popular story in hits (From Heaven has that crown), and the top in number of subscribers with 16 (last I remember checking). Seriously, I was not expecting this story to be this huge, especially when we're now five chapters in.
> 
> Thank you so much everyone! I hope you enjoy this chapter.
> 
> Also you can listen to a fanmix I made for this story here:  
> http://8tracks.com/mizufallsfromkumo/by-wolves

Sutton’s tour wasn’t overly amazing, not that Wes had ever been on a tour that blew his mind before, but for the most part it was simple.  The older Alpha led him down the stairs to the first floor of the building.  He gave Wes a brief overview of what the pack’s line of business as he did so.

They were private investigators, simply because it was easier for them to function that way, instead of being in the police force.  It made since when Wes thought about it, usually people didn’t care how private investigators got what they got.  It was easier for packs to have their own businesses or operation, than to wiggling into largely human filled ones.  Wes knew from experience.  In his time running, he had taken work where he could, even if it wasn’t for long.  All of it simply added up to a werewolf’s abilities being superior to those of a human.   It raised a lot more questions and eyebrows than were needed. 

Once they reached the door to the first floor, Sutton had for the most part seemed to have wrapped what he wanted to say about the packs business functions.  He opened the door for Wes to enter, as he started explaining that they used for first floor for clients, or the occasional interrogation they sometimes liked to have.  The second floor was more offices and resources for the members of the pack to use.  

The first floor wasn’t much, there seemed to be a seating area by a front deck that was near the front glass door.  There were some glass rooms with blinds that were probably used for more private meetings with clients, as well as some of the seating areas within the office space there as well.  Wes examined it all from a sort of distance, and Sutton seemed to watch him as he did so.

At some point a brown haired woman came storming out of a door dragging some scared looking man along with her, before she shoved him out the door.  She told the man to scram, before she gave Wes or Sutton any of her attention.  Sutton introduced her as Amy Laroche, when she came huffing over with some curiosity.  She was an Alpha, a female one, another rarity.  Wes was still a little cautious of her, but she gave him a rather kind grin before huffing off towards the stairs.

After that, Sutton took Wes to the third floor of the building, which was served as the pack member’s living quarters.  The third floor was indeed a large living space.  There was a large kitchen, dining table, and two large living room sort of areas.  Each member of the pack had their own separate rooms with doors lining two separate hallways.  There was a stairwell opposite of the one they had used to get up there that led to the fourth floor, which Sutton has explained was mostly for him and his mate/wife, Helen.

Still Sutton led him up the stair case by the elevator, pointing out that the other staircase went to Helen’s and his room.  The fourth floor had the layout that seemed to be more fit for an apartment building, than whatever the rest of the building was.  The fourth floor was more of a short hallway that was lined with a few doors. 

“The door on the left is Helen’s and mine area,” Sutton said gesturing towards the door as he walked down the hall.  He was digging his pocket for something in his pocket.  Wes watched him form the base of the hallway as he pulled out a set of keys. “And this door is where I had Travis put your things.”  Sutton said turning back to look at him when he stopped at the second door on the right.  He pushed the key into the lock, turned it, and pushed the door open.  “After you.”

Wes made a slow approach, peering into the room.  It was rather plain, and furnished just enough should someone need to live there, or use it for something, it was comfortable.  The apartment was small.  An open living area and small kitchenette, a door that probably lead to a bathroom and a bedroom off to the side as well.  There were some decent sized windows, and the room didn’t overly smell like anything.  Wes spotted his backpack resting on chair by a small round table, and he rested the urge to run over to it.  Wes glanced at Sutton, who just smiled at him encouragingly to enter.

 _The worst he could do is lock you in here, after all he is mated._ Wes thought before he took a breath and entered the room.  He hurried to his bag, giving a quick once over to see if anything was missing.  Nothing seemed to be, but he couldn’t be sure, he would have to do a more detailed check without Sutton there.

Suddenly he heard the door click shut, and he cursed under his breath, closing his eyes to wait for the sound of the lock.  It never came; however, instead the soft sound of Sutton’s footsteps greeted his ears.  Wes mentally kicked himself and instantly reached for the switch knife had had managed to get his hands on a months after he ran away. 

“You’re rather far from home, aren’t you, Wes?”  Sutton asked with a knowing tone.  Wes gripped the knife tighter as he turned.  Sutton was leaning against the counter of the small kitchenette with his arms crossed and a knowing look on his face.  “Los Angeles is quite a distance from Chico.”

Wes opened his mouth to say something, but it ended up dying on his tongue.  “How’d you know?”  Wes asked with a defeated sigh and a sharp look.

“It wasn’t hard; you looked like you might fall over when I mentioned it.”  Sutton said easily.  “That, and I’ve heard most of the gossip about the Mitchell Alpha line ending with a male Omega from Helen’s cousin who lived in the area.”

“You put two and two together.”  Wes said grimly as he straightened up, keeping the knife hidden behind him.   Sutton just nodded in reply.  Wes sighed and hung his head.  It seemed like the only thing he could manage was being a complete idiot as of late. 

“Relax, I’m not going to tell anyone.”  Sutton said after a moment, causing Wes to look at him.  He smirked like he knew that was the next thing Wes going to address.  “You’ve made your choice, Mr. Mitchell, I get that.  And I know one doesn’t leave their pack without good reason.”  He paused for a moment.   “Also, whatever you’re hiding behind your back is a clear indication you know how to handle yourself.”

Wes blinked at the Alpha dumbfounded, his hand with the switch blade falling into sight.  Part of him was completely shocked by the words.  He was so use to not trusting anyone that he wasn’t sure he was supposed to believe the words.  Yet another part was telling him could.  After all Sutton and his pack had seemed to go out of their way to make sure he felt comfortable enough with them.   It didn’t seem like there was much of a way for Sutton to stab him in the back.  So he goes with trusting the words, and prayed it doesn’t come back to bite him.

“Um…thanks.”  Wes said slowly.

“I’ll let you get settled,” Sutton said as walked towards Wes.  He placed the keys to the room on the table, before he made his way towards the door with a bit of a chuckled.  “Come done when you’re ready.”  Sutton said before he closed the door.

Wes let the footsteps wonder into the distance before he let out a breath he didn’t remember taking.  He shook his head and folded the knife and placed it on the table.  He dumped his bag and found everything was there that he remembered.  With a sigh of relief he grabbed some jeans, a plain shirt, and a hoodie before heading to the bathroom.

\----  ----  ----

Wes went down to the third floor at around 3:30.  The only one who was there was Sutton’s wife, Helen, who had been reading a book on a couch.  She was a beta and she just greeted Wes with a smile when he entered the floor cautiously.   She let Wes enter the room more before she asked if he wanted anything to eat or drink as she rose form her seat.  Wes didn’t answer immediately, but he did eventually ask for some water to drink.

Helen motioned for Wes to sit at the island in the kitchen as she grabbed a glass form the cabinet.  She poured some water and passed it to Wes.  Wes took a sip, and there was a moment of silence, before Helen started up a light conversation of Wes’ recent travels and his time with Jonelle.  She praised him a bit for his bravery to backpack from where ever he came from.  Wes found some comfort in talking with her about some things.  She was curious, but she didn’t press for many details that Wes didn’t give.

It wasn’t long for them to get in a sort of rhythm as they talked.  At four, Helen started to prepare dinner for the whole pack.  Wes offered to help, and she thankfully let him.  Handing him a knife and having him cut up some fresh ingredients while she cooked.  Mostly it was some vegetables, with some herbs and spices, because Helen believed just because they were wolves didn’t mean they had to have an all meat diet.  Wes kind of grinned when she told her that, mainly because she whispered it like it was some sort of secret.   The conversation kept going, but more on the subject of the fact that Wes couldn’t really remember the last time he had a homemade meal.

At five, the kitchen started to smell like a cooking meal, and it only took about ten minutes for the pack to start wondering up.  Sutton was first, giving his mate a sweet peck on the cheek as he snuck a peek at what was for dinner.  Helen shooed him away after a minute, telling him he had to wait.  A few minutes later, Travis came thundering up the stairs, with Kate and Amy behind him making jabs or something.  David was behind them chuckling.

Travis almost immediately come to his side, it seemed out of curiosity of what he was doing, but something in Wes’ brain told him it was like he was look for shelter.  For some reason the fact that Travis came to his side, made Wes’ heart flutter bit, but he ignored it.  Wes didn’t really acknowledge Travis at first; he just sort of let the other members heckle at Travis.  After all, he technically wasn’t a pack member; he was literally staying the night, he didn’t really have place.  That and he kind enjoyed the slight misery in Travis groans as Kate and Amy crowded around him.  David come to rest on the other side of Wes with a drink and offered a small smile.  Wes tried not to let the anxiety of their crowding get to him.

“So, Wes, you look a bit more at home in your own clothes.”  Travis said over the jabs, after a while.  “But I have to ask, did Helen here make you help her with dinner?”

“Oh, yes, Travis, I made our _guest_ help me prepare dinner.”  Helen snapped sarcastically, in a way that sort of made Wes’ lips perk up a bit.  “No, Wes, very kindly offered to help.”

“Damn, and you let _him_.”  Amy commented in shock behind Wes.  It caused Wes to turn and look at her, she smirked at his confusion.  “She usually doesn’t let anyone help in the kitchen when she’s cooking.”

“No, she usually doesn’t let _you_ help in the kitchen.”  Travis corrected quickly, Amy gave a sharp growl in response and Travis smirked knowingly.  “If I remember correctly, you almost burned down the kitchen twice.”

Wes heard Amy huff and she suddenly stormed over to beside David.  Travis chuckled at her, while the others sort of muttered to each other.  The conversation turned to lighter things.  Kate and Amy took to getting asking Wes things about things.  Amy and him bonded for a brief moment over the fact that they were rare things in the werewolf community.  Though, female Alphas were still more common than a male Omega. 

Everything was okay until Travis reached out to grab some of the almonds Helen had given Wes to cut up as best he could.  Instinctively, Wes suddenly slammed the knife just millimeters form Travis’ hand, with the blade facing out towards his hand.   He jabbed it rather deep into the board as well. Wes wasn’t really sure if he snapped, or if the anxiety had got to him more than he thought.  Everyone froze and went dead silently.   After moment, Sutton burst out laughing, followed by everyone else, as Travis pulled back his hand.

“And here I was thinking your bite was only literal in your wolf form.”  Travis muttered to him under the laugher of his pack members.

Wes shot him a glared at him for a moment.  “That was rather stupid of you.”  Wes shot back lightly in return.

After a moment everyone settled down, and Amy gave Wes a hard pat on the back, for scaring the shit out of Travis.  Kate and David just sort of grinned to themselves, before Helen sudden cut in and told them to get the table ready for dinner.  After that everything sort of fell away from Wes for a moment and he felt like he could breathe a bit more.  Helen gave him a smile as she handed Travis a plate of food to put on the table. 

She motioned for Wes to join them at the large dining room table.  Sutton motioned for the seat to the left of the head of the table where he was sitting.  Wes quietly slid into the seat, which happened to be beside Travis, but the Alpha didn’t seem to notice at him.   Amy and him were arguing about something, while David seemed to be trying to break them.  It seemed like a rather fruitless thing for him to do, because when Alphas start arguing with each other, it was best to just let it run its course and not intervene.  However, Kate dropped a comment and the two seemed to stop.  Helen placed a few more items of food on the table before she sat down across from Wes.

From there it was rather pleasant.  Yes, there was a dive for food that Wes wasn’t really used to.  His family had been rather tradition about how they ate, which his father getting his food first and such, and then proceed down the line of succession.  But for the most part in Sutton’s pack they were all equal, and it was like a giant family just getting what they could.  It was kind of comforting to see it.  Wes was so use to eating alone and fending for himself that it was somewhat nice to have a meal with someone.

The conversation was light and easy, which was nice.  Everyone was still interest in Wes and his life, but it didn’t seem so bad around the table. It felt a little easier to talk there.  Not to mention the fact that they were sort of willing to tell stories about themselves and the pack.  It wasn’t a lot, but enough to make Wes feel a bit more comfortable about sharing his own. 

At around 8:30 was turned in for the night, somewhat to the packs disappointment.  Sutton and Helen turned in about thirty minutes before he even thought about it.  Everyone wished him a good night’s sleep, and Travis offered to take Wes up to his room.  Wes declined, and hurried up to his room.  He locked the door behind him, and let out a sigh.

He changed, and figured he should go to bed.  He wanted to leave early the next day; he had spent more than enough time in town.  Granted it was a big city, but if his father still had people trailing him it was only a matter of time before someone tracked him down.  After all, his father only hired the best. 

Shaking his head, Wes crawled into bed.  He curled up and was surprised to find he sort of forgot what a comfortable bed felt like.


	6. I Got Something to Prove

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ten o’clock had rolled passed by the time Wes started stirring himself awake. He groaned at the brightness of the sunlight that was making its presence known though the blinds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy Crap, guys, this is my most popular story in everything but the number of hits. However seeing as how this story at least a month in a half old, I'd say it's way more popular. Thanks guys again for this! 
> 
> On a more serious note, this chapter has some attempted rape towards the end. Putting a warning here now, because I have to go back and edit the tags, but I'm going to post this first. It's not really anything more than pinning someone down, but still I though I should let everyone know. 
> 
> (PS I will probably at some point bump up the rating, but that will be when the sex happens...which is somewhere in the future.)

Ten o’clock had rolled passed by the time Wes started stirring himself awake.  He groaned at the brightness of the sunlight that was making its presence known though the blinds.  Yet, he sat up with a sigh rubbed his face to wake himself up for a moment.  For a moment he glanced around confused as to where he was, because it was too nice to be a motel, and he didn’t remember checking in anywhere to begin with.  However, his brain quickly supplied the fact that he had stayed in the Sutton’s pack home.  Wes gave another sigh.

He turned to the clock, cursing at the time as he yanked himself out of bed.  He wanted to leave earlier, but it seemed that wasn’t going to be his luck.  He had knocked out almost the moment he got comfortable on the bed.  For the first time in a while he didn’t have to worry too much about someone coming to get him in the night.  There was still underlying worry, but the locked door at put him a bit more at ease that he could let himself sleep.  Still, the last time he truely remembered sleeping that well was when he was back with his family.

Shaking the thought from his head, Wes went to his things and pulled out another pair of clothes.  He frowned a bit to himself at the thought that he probably had to do laundry at some point.  With luck, maybe he could spare a few dollars and not have to scam anyone.  Again he shook his thoughts away and headed for the bathroom to get cleaned up and changed.

Thirty-minutes later he emerged from bathroom and started packing his bag.  Wes thoroughly checked to make everything he was there again, and it was.  He set to repacking everything neatly, before making sure the room Sutton had let him use was back in order.  After that he took his things, left the keys Sutton has given him on the table, and headed downs stairs.

Amy and David were the only ones out in the living area of the third floor when Wes entered.  Almost instantly Amy noticed him when he entered, and frowned a bit at the sight of him and his things, but she didn’t overly make a huge deal about it.  David gave him control of the kitchen to make whatever he wanted for breakfast.  Wes made a few eggs and some slices of toast, it wasn’t really the breakfast of champions but it was enough for him.

Wes ate his food quickly, asking where everyone was.  David informed him that Helen had gone out to run some errands, and Kate had a lead on her case.  Travis had gone down to get some work done and the same with Sutton.  Wes asked why they weren’t working, and Amy quickly filled in that their current cases required a more nightly approach to them.  Wes nodded slowly at the comment as he took a bit out of his last piece of toast.

Once he was done with his breakfast, David took Wes down to find Sutton.  The older Alpha was talking about something with Travis when they walked down to the second floor.  Travis was leaning back in his car with his feet on his desk and a smug sort of look on his face, watching Sutton look over a file.  He turned to look in Wes’ direction, probably after catching his scent in the air.  He frowned a bit at the sight.

“You’re leaving already?”  He asked straightening up in his seat.  He took his feet off his desk as well to really probably straighten up.  It caused Sutton to look up from the folder in his hand and glance at Wes as well.

Wes shifted a bit under their gazes, but stood his ground for the most part.  “I told you I didn’t want to stay long when you picked me up yesterday.”  Wes pointed out.  “Remember you made a deal with him.”

“Yeah,” Travis said, still frowning a bit.  “But I had hoped you would have changed your mind and want to stay a bit more after last night.”

“Clearly that’s not the case.”  Wes stated.  In truth part of him did want to stay longer, it was the first time he ever felt welcomed to anything, and not to mention safe in the company of other wolves.  He didn’t feel forced into anything, and his need to run and get away had somewhat shrunk, and that scared him a little.  Still he knew he had to go.  Wes turned to look at Sutton.  “Thank you for the hospitality, but I probably should still be on my way.”

“It was a pleasure having you Wes,” Sutton said with a grin.  “I hope you have safe travels.  It’s a shame you couldn’t stay longer with us.”

Wes nodded slightly in return.  He opened his mouth to say something, but really didn’t know what to say.  There were things that seemed to proper to say, and other things to rude, and Wes couldn’t find a happy middle.  He just grabbed a strap of his backpack and gave a wave as he turned to the door.  He gave a small good-bye as he pushed his way out the door to the stairs, surprisingly finding it something louder he couldn’t manage. 

He made his way town the flight of stairs and pushed out the double doors.  Wes made his way to the sidewalk, glancing back at the big brick building one last time, before he started down the street.

\----  ----  ----

While the crowd covered wasn’t what Wes wanted, it was still rather reasonable once he got into an area with more shops and restaurants.  His late breakfast help him deal with the pleasant smells that were pumping out of the places. Besides Wes needed more scent coverage than anything else when it got down to it.  The late morning, and early afternoon crowds were pretty decent for the most part.  No one really seemed to pay him much mind, one elderly lady forced a ten on him and some uniformed cops stopped him briefly, but other than that not much.

He stopped for lunch at around two.  It was a small meal compared to what he had been eating over the past few days, but with luck it would hold him over till dinner.  And with luck dinner might be a reasonable meal at a buffet.  Wes wasn’t going to count on it, especially if he found himself at a station of some kind.  Wes groaned to himself, and shoved the thoughts away when his food was ready; he didn’t want to think about it while he ate.

As he ate a sudden feeling that someone was watching him settled on him.  He glanced around cautiously, carefully trying to let whoever was following know he was on to him.  Grumbling to himself, he cursed the fact that he decided to stop in a restaurant.  There were so many smells that he couldn’t pick up on anything.  Whoever was giving him the feeling must have picked up his scent outside and followed it in and Wes was just know picking up on the feeling.  He frowned he didn’t see anyone, but he ate a bit quicker and hurried out of there in hopes to shake the feeling.

It worked for a second, but then it returned ten-fold.  He curse under his breath as a wind blew past him, caring his scent downwind.  He turned and glanced back, not finding anything out of the ordinary.  He told himself that maybe be was just a bit too paranoid and he pressed forward with a bit more speed in his step.  Yet after rounded a few more corners having the crowds starting to fade away as he walked into a less populated part of town, Wes still couldn’t shake the feeling.  He glanced back and caught sight of two large, tough looking men who had a fixed look.

“Shit,” Wes breathed, as he turned back around and kept his pace.  Suddenly he broke into a run, as fast as he could go.

There was a shout somewhere behind Wes, though it sounds more like someone was shoved than anything else.  Wes hated the fact that his gut had been right on this.  He rounded a corner quickly and peered back to see the two man storming after him full speed as well.  Wes turned back and narrowly avoided some mother and her children, somehow he managed not to plow them over, and apologize as he past.  The woman shouted at him anyway, only to turn around and seem to do it again ten seconds later.  Great, they were going a tiny bit faster than him.

Wes glanced back again, just in time to see the man was reaching out to grab him.  Cursing, Wes pushed himself to run a little faster.  His legs and lungs burn but he doesn’t have time to care, and just pushes.  Just enough to get out of the man’s reach for a second and randomly turn down an alley.  It didn’t prove to be the brilliant idea he thought it would have been.  He’s change of direction have allowed the man to get within reach of him and grab a hold of his backpack. 

The man pulled back sharply, before pulling down hard.  Wes managed to wiggle out of its straps and stumble forward into the alley.  He tripped, but managed to catch himself and roll to his feet, stopping for a moment to catch his breath.  His eyes went to his bag that the man still had in his hand, kicking himself for not grabbing anything from his bag to defend himself, before his gaze flickered up to the man.  The man was tall with short brown hair, and on a bit thinner side for someone smelling like an Alpha, but he still looked like his had been through some fight.   He growled at Wes in frustration, throwing down his bag, like how dare Wes out smart him, and Wes swallowed.

A moment later, the other man round the corner, he was a bald man, who was more built than the other.  Wes didn’t have to smell him to know he was an Alpha, the man just had a look to him, the way he carried himself and everything.  Not to mention, the first man turned to him and gave him a grin that Wes remembered some of his uncles giving his father.  Of course, with Wes luck, one of people chasing him would be an Alpha of the pack.  The second man grinned at him like he just knew he won, Wes glared at him. 

“I’ll admit a little chase with things I want is something I enjoy,” The bald man said as started to take measured steps towards Wes.  Wes growled in warning, but it just seemed to breeze past the man like it was nothing.  “It’s a shame you’re not very good at it.”  Wes slowly straightened up, making it seem like he was just going to accept defeat.  He hung his head, biting back a growl when he heard the man chuckle.  “Smart boy.  Knowing when you’re defeated and submitting.”   Wes quenched his fists tightly.

Wes let the man near him, wrinkling his nose at the Alpha’s smell.  It reminded him of steel and metal, and the general unpleasant smells that accompanied them.  The man placed a hand on Wes’ shoulder, and hooked a finger around Wes’ chin to raise his head up.  Wes was done playing after that.  He twisted and decked the man in the jaw, groaning out a curse as he shook out the pain from his hand from the blow.  The Omega took quick steps backwards as the thin man hurried towards his Alpha. 

“Clearly, I’m not as smart as you thought,” Wes said smartly as he turned and took off running down the alley. 

A loud growl came from behind Wes in reply, and Wes was more than happy to listen to his instinct to run at the sound of it.  Wes just ran, taking a sharp turn to the right, hoping to just get to the street.  Yet, he only seemed to find himself face to face with a brick wall.  He sighed himself, before turning up to glance at the sky.

 _Can something for once happen in my favor?!_   Wes thought as he turning to glare at the sky.   The sound of the two Alphas nearing caused Wes to turn away from the sky.  He quickly glanced around his surround for something to defend himself with.  A smile spread across his lips at the sight of a metal pipe on the ground.  He went for it, only to be rammed into by someone.

He hardly had time to register which Alpha it was.  Whoever it was, they quickly worked on pinning his wrists down.  The growled at him roughly, and for a second Wes froze up at the sound, allowing whoever tackled him to pin him down.  Wes growled as fiercely as he could, glaring at the thin man as he hovered him with a wicked grin.  He struggled against his hold, but the thin man quickly threw a blow to Wes’ cheek, making Wes’ world spin for a moment, and taste something metal in his mouth.

“So much fight for an Omega.”  The man grinned out, leaning into Wes’ space. 

Wes tore his glaze fixed on the pipe as his world started to come to a standstill.  It was just a little under two yards away from his hold.  All he had to was break away from the man and get to it.  Wes let out a sigh at the thought and felt the fight drain from him.  That was a lot easier said than done.

“Someone needs to teach you submission.”  The voice of the bald man said some distance above him and to Wes’ left.  Wes turned his head slightly, to see the bald man drawing closer, his smile seemed to grow at Wes’ glare.  A shiver ran down Wes’ spine, and a dread for his fate just filled his bones.  The bald man squatted down next to him; slowly placing his hands were the other has his own.  “You know, I was going to be nice and do this in our home where I know would be a bit more comfortable.   But, this is clearly going to have to do.”

Wes closed his eyes at the words.  He tried to struggle against the Alpha’s hold, but he was stronger than his friend.  Alphas of packs tended to have move strength than regular Alphas.  Wes’ brain scrambling for a plan, this is not how he wanted anything like this to go.  Yet it seemed like it was his fate as an Omega to just be handed off or taken by others.  He bite his lip as he heard someone walk away, and he just knew it was the thinner Alpha, no doubt listening to Alpha’s silent orders to leave and stand guard.  Wes turned his head away again, opening his eyes again. 

His gaze immediately landed on the pipe.  It sent away wave of confidence through his veins, and fuels his drive to go down fighting.  Where the Alpha had strength, Wes had speed, and that was enough for him.  He relaxed in the Alpha’s hold, and glanced up at the sky, praying that what he was going to do would work.  He took a deep breath and bit cheek as he watched the Alpha go down into the crock of his neck.

Suddenly Wes pulled his knee up; not landing a completely perfect blow, but something that was enough to startle the Alpha.  Wes used the surprise as a chance to take another swing at him, and turn to get him off.  That surprisingly worked.  The Alpha let go in surprise, Wes gave one last kick, before he rolled away and scrambled for the pipe.  Never in his life did Wes think he could find the feel of a dirty metal pipe comforting. 

A roar of frustration came from behind him, and Wes turned around swinging.  The Alpha barely dodged Wes’ first arch out, but he wasn’t expecting Wes to smart enough not to over swing.  For once Wes’ uncle’s baseballs lessons came in handy.  Wes immediately swung in the opposite direction, landing a blow on the Alpha.  The bald Alpha loses a bit of his balance from the blow, but Wes wasn’t done.  He charged the larger werewolf and brought the pipe straight down on the alpha’s head with all his strength. 

It was enough to knock him off his feet, but not out.  Wes doesn’t care; he gave a few sharp kicks to the Alpha’s stomach, before the Alpha seemed to get over the blow from the pipe.  Wes took a step back as Alpha shifted to get on his feet.  He growled at Wes, looking like he was going to spring at Wes in his wolf form and tear out his throat.  Wes didn’t give him a chance, he kicked the Alpha to the side, and brought the pipe down again, refusing to stop until he knew the Alpha was knocked out.

Someone suddenly grabbed him from behind, pinning Wes’ arms to his side, and ripped him away from the Alpha.  Wes panicked, kicking fruitlessly in an attempt to get away, and gave a small cry of frustration.  In his panic, all Wes registered was the smell of an Alpha, and he groaned when he figured it was the thinner Alpha who first pinned him down.  Wes struggled harder in the hold at the thought.

To his surprise, the Alpha put him down.  Wes didn’t waste any time whipping around and swinging the pipe wildly the moment his feet touched the ground.  He grinned at the sound of the metal hitting something.  However it drained away when he took the time to notice who it was as they stumbled away.

“Travis?!”  Wes exclaimed.  “What the hell are you doing here?!”

The dark skinned Alpha was clutching his head where Wes hit had likely landed.  He gave a hiss of pain as his pulled his hand away and Wes cringed a bit at the sight of some blood trickling out.  “Saving your ass,” Travis admitted as he frowned down at his hand.  “Damn, Wes, what’s your batting average?  I think you gave me a concussion.”  Travis hissed as he reached down to take the pipe from Wes’ hand. 

“Sorry,” Wes apologized, rubbing the back of his neck.  “I thought you were…”Wes said pausing as Travis tossed the pipe so it hit the thinner Alpha, who let out a groan from the impact, “him.”

“Well, I’m not, and I clearly beat the shit out of him, so you can relax.”  Travis said with a wide grin, and everything sort of drained away from Wes.  All his fear, rage, and adrenaline vanished and he felt weak and tired.  “You okay?  You’re lip is bleeding.”  Suddenly there was a dark look to Travis that surprised Wes a bit.

Wes’s hand instantly went to his lip, to find there was some blood there.  He quickly wiped it with his hand before Travis could seem to reach out and touch it.  “I’m fine,” Wes lied, taking a slight step back.  He was the furthest thing from fine, but part of him didn’t want to admit to Travis.  Like it knew if he told him it would not end well for the other two Alphas’.  Travis pulled his hand back slowly, and looked like he didn’t believe Wes but he didn’t press.  “Why are you here?”  Wes asked slowly.

Travis was silent for a moment.  “I was following you,” He admitted.

“Why?”  Wes asked levelly. 

“I wanted to make sure you safe.”  Travis answered with a shrug.  “I don’t really know.  Come on, let’s get you out of here before Crowl and his goon come to.”  Travis said as he rested his hand lightly on Wes’ back and pushed him towards the mouth of the alley.

Wes just follows, feeling safe with Travis there.  He glanced back a bit at the thin Alpha just lying there; Travis just pushed him a bit to break his attention.  They collected Wes’ backpack and Travis let them a few blocks away before he hailed a cab.  Wes didn’t care where Travis told the driver to go.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Hides under the covers- I'm not use to writing stuff like this!


	7. You Tried to Hide

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took me forever and month to update. I had some writers block and School kept me rather busier than I sort of expected. All should be good now. I need to find an apartment and work out some classes, but the school year is coming to a bit of close and stuff, so hopefully quicker updates.
> 
> Also after this update, I figure this story will become my top story in everything on AO3. So thank you guys so much.

“Put this on.” Travis ordered lightly tossing his leather jacket he was wearing at Wes as the cab drove away.

The words knocked Wes from his staring at the shady looking salvage yard the cab dumped them in front of. Wes turned to look at Travis, and got a face full of jacket, clogging his senses with the smell of leather and Travis. It took Wes a moment to fully register what happen, before he pulled the jacket off his head. He glared at Travis as he held it out from himself. “Why?” Wes asked.

“Just—” Travis started, but then cut himself off with a sigh. “Because while this is pack we can trust and they’ll help, you’re still an unmated Omega.” Travis pointed out. “The jacket will cover your scent, and make any Alpha or Beta that catches it think about approaching you.”

“In other words it’s a claim on me.” Wes said flatly.

“No—it’s not a claim, Wes!” Travis replied quickly, and in a somewhat defense tone. He opened his mouth to say something else, but closed it with a bit of a huff. “Yes, it will look like a claim, but I’m not making an actual claim to you. Just—just but the jacket on will you.”

“Fine!” Wes huffed as he shoved an arm in one of the sleeves.

Travis gave a bit of a grin, like he was satisfied that he won, Wes growled a bit in frustration as he pulled the jackets over his shoulder. He grumbled to himself as he pulled it into place on him, it was harder than he thought. Wes was almost drowning in the jacket. The sleeves was a good inch or two too long, the shoulders hung off his own, and Wes was pretty sure he could wrap himself in it tightly. The only plus about wearing it was he surrounded by Travis’ smell, which oddly a week ago he never would have seen happening, but for some reason he didn’t mind currently.

Once he had the jacket on well enough, Travis turned and made his way towards the entrance of the salvage yard Wes hesitated for a moment, glancing around the street, before turning to look at the towering stacks of rusting cars and parts. “Travis!” He hissed at the Alpha, who seemed to ignore him. “Travis!”

“What, Wes?” Travis groaned, turning around to look at Wes.

“We’re going in there?” Wes asked, pointing to the yard.

“Yeah, Wes, we’re going in there.” Travis said with a roll of his eyes, before he glanced down at Wes at seemed to really notice he’s unease about the place. “I get that you’re a little jumpy from what just happened,” Wes huffed at the words; it was more than putting it lightly. “And, I’ll admit, Money’s pack business isn’t all _completely_ legal, but he’s a good guy trust me.”

“You don’t exactly make it easy.” Wes grumbled. “Yet but for some reason I keep doing it.”

“That sounds like a personal problem.” Travis said with a grin, before turning and making his way into the yard. “Relax, Money’s my brother.”

Wes paused for a moment, and let out a ground as he grabbing his bag and stormed after Travis. “You have a brother name Money?” Wes questioned once he caught up to Travis.

The Alpha chuckled in reply and wandered along the rows of cars. There wasn’t anyone in sight, though Wes had picked up on a few scents of others. Wes kept close to the Alpha’s side, unsure of where the man was taking him. Part of him wasn’t sure about the whole thing, and it was screaming for him to run. Yet Wes stayed rooted by his side, because it didn’t really much sense to him for Travis to save him then turn around and do the same thing he saved Wes from. Not to mention there had been other opportunities.

“Man, where is everyone?” Travis asked glancing around as the cleared the maze and came to a rundown looking auto repair shop. Suddenly there was a series of clicks around them, and Wes found himself with a gun crammed in his face. Both froze in their steps. “Found them.” Travis said with a somewhat gleeful tone. Wes turned to shot a sharp glare at him, he really wanted to punch him, but he also didn’t want to get shot. “Hey, guys, Money in?”

“Look at what the cat dragged in.” A voice said as a huge man covered in tribal looking tattoos came out from one of the garages.

Suddenly the man was shouting something ridiculous, and a second later Travis was going the same, both caused Wes to jump. Travis maneuvered out from under the guns and made his way towards the man. The two clasped hands, and then all of a sudden Travis sprung up on to him for moment in what looked like a hug, before the man put him down. Wes assumed he was Money.

“What are you doing here, T-bone?” Money asked. “But more importantly, who gave you that?” He asked, shoving Travis’ head to the side and gesturing to the small wound on Travis head that Wes had given him.

If Travis said anything, Wes didn’t really catch it. He suddenly aware that the people around him were all staring at him, guns still pointed, but a curiosity in him now that Travis was gone. He felt like they could just tell want he was. He could just feel the hunger in their gazes. Wes shifted a bit, pulling Travis jacket around him a bit more tightly, despite the heat. Finding comfort in the smell of him, even though he really didn’t want to admit he did. He felt crowded, but he tried to make himself a bit small and not let it get to him so much. However, his nerves were more than rattled; it was going to take more than just telling himself to calm down.

Someone behind him took a sniff of him, and the tension in Wes snapped. He spun around and clocked a beta in the nose. The whole yard went quiet. If Wes hadn’t just been attacked, he might had just shifted away, or growled in warning. However, he was too defensive to not have a violent reaction to the gesture.

The beta stumbled back gripping his nose, which seemed to be starting to bleed. They pulled back their hand. “You little bitch!” They snarled as they shot Wes a murderous look.

Wes returned it with a challenging one, which only seemed to anger the beta more. The beta gave a growl and started to charge him, but then all of a sudden Travis was there between them. “Back off,” the Alpha snarled deeply. It was full-blown territorial, this is _mine_ , Alpha tone.

Wes moved to tell Travis he didn’t need him to fight his battles, but he saw the Alpha’s teeth were bared and Wes shrank back a bit. His Omega brain was screaming at him to submit and accept the protection, so as he did rarely, Wes listened to it. The beta shrank back too, huffing as he moved away, and sparing Wes a mean look. It only earned him a deep growl from Travis. Wes glanced at Money, to see he had a look on his face that Wes couldn’t read.

It seemed to fade away a bit when a small, slightly-showing pregnant, Hispanic woman touched his arm lightly and Money seemed to relax. Wes hadn’t noticed her before, but she must of come out from somewhere between the time Travis was talking with Money and Wes socking the beta in the face. She made her way calmly to Wes, the pleasant smell of another omega greeting him.

“That’s enough boys,” She said in a motherly tone, which Wes was half amaze to see half the pack members glancing away in shame. She touched Wes’ check lightly, causing him to hiss a bit. “I’m Andrea, Money’s mate. I heard Travis explaining what happened. Come one, let’s get you cleaned up.” She said calmly with a pleasant smile.

“Uh…okay,” Wes replied slowly, glancing at Travis, almost like he was seeking confirmation that it was okay. The Alpha just gave him a thumbs up as Andrea took Wes’ hand and led him into the garage. Wes glanced down as he followed her.

Andrea lead him to an office area within the garage, Wes figured was where she spent most of her time because the room smelt mostly like her. He found it was a lot easier to relax and drop his guard a bit more. She pushed him into a seat, before clicking the door shut behind her, not locking it, but Wes was too busy taking it all in.

The office wasn’t as messy as the yard, or the garage. It was still a bit worn down looking, and in clear need of a paint job, but the things on the wall were hung a bit straighter. There were two desks within the room, parallel to each other, both rather orderly looking. The one closest to the door looked like it was hardly used, while the one Andrea had put Wes in front of looked like it was used rather constantly as of late. Wes figured it was where Andrea spent most of her time, especially now that she was showing her pregnancy.

A small sound from Andrea pulled Wes’ attention back to her. She seemed to produce a first aid kit out of one draws of cabinet that lined the wall behind her desk. Wes watched as she put it on the desk, as she wiggling past her deck chair to reach for something. The sound of a small refrigerator door opening came to Wes ears, and she placed two things of water on the desk. She straightened up, tossing back some of her dark hard with a breath of a laugh.

“Here,” She said holding out a bottle for Wes, as she rounded the desk. Wes took it with a small thank you, as he moved the chair next to him so she could set across from him. She smiled pleasantly as she sank down into the seat. She pulled the first aid kit towards her, and popped it open, fishing out a wipe. She took his right hand gently, and started to clean off the blood that Wes hadn’t realized was there. “Does your hand hurt?” She asked.

“A little,” Wes admitted. It wasn’t horrible, just the usual soreness he got from throwing a punch at someone repeatedly. Usually it went away after he flexed his hand a bit. “Nothing I’m not use.”

“You punch a lot of people?” She asked, peeking up at him with a raised eyebrow and a smile.

“Not usually.” Wes said. In his two years of running away he had only gotten in a few fist fights with others, though most of the time it was a few good hits and he was sprinting away, or someone intervened.

“Well, you could have had me fooled.” Andrea replied with a giggle. She turned and tossed the wipe in the trash when she was done. She glanced down at the kit and made a sound as she pressed her lips together in thought. She turned her head quickly too look at Wes, reaching out to grab his chin and turn his head to the side. “Crowl and his man gave you quiet a shiner.” Andrea touched his cheek, and Wes winced, resisting pulling back. “Sorry.” Andrea turned and grabbed another wipe, carefully wiping away the blood Wes could feel had dried around his lips. “The good news is it seems to be healing up fine, and should be gone by the evening at the latest.”

The male omega sighed, he already knew that, but the fact that the marks of acts against him would be gone, didn’t comfort him. “Good to hear.” He said flatly, looking away, trying not to sound rude.

Andrea herself gave a sigh, before Wes felt her hand on his shoulder. “You’ve been through a lot today, but you’re safe now. I know nothing is going to magically fix what happened, you just have to keep going, which I have a feeling is something you do rather well.” She said in a knowing tone that make Wes smile a bit, before pausing for a moment and turning to close the kit. “And you should know, Crowl and his pack are not going to get a warm welcome anytime soon around here. You were in our territory when he cornered you, meaning Crowl had no reason to be chasing you, and Money always has Travis back.” She rose for her seat, grabbing the other water, and making her way to the door with a grin. “Now, drink some water, relax, I’m going to go check Travis head. I’ll be back soon.”

“Alright,” Wes said with a nod. He watched Andrea open the door. “And thank you, for helping me and…saying that.”

“You’re welcome.” She said as she stepped out the door and closed it behind her.

Wes waited a few moments before he let himself relax. He wanted to make sure no one was just going to barge in, but that didn’t seem to be an issue. It seemed most of the pack had gone back to their work instead of being on patrol, but from Wes could hear they were keeping themselves busy. Wes leaned back in the chair, staring up at the ceiling, before closing his eyes. He focused on his breathing, just trying to collect himself.

He was okay, he was fine. He wasn’t forced to mate someone. He was still free. Indebted to some people, but for the most part still free. But his choices were still his too make. At the end of the day, that was what counted. Wes could look past Travis being territorial of him, even though part of him didn’t want to, but Travis had just save him and someone was going to attack him again. It made sense in a way.

Wes opened his eyes once he felt reasonably put back together. He opened the water Andrea had given him. He quickly drank half of it, a bit surprised by his thirst. However he didn’t think much of it. He glanced around the office some more. He rose from his seat when some pictures on a cork board caught his attention. Most of them where pictures of cars that they had fixed, or taken care of, but some of the pictures where just random moments that someone had probably just pinned up for fun. Wes chuckled at them a bit, before he glanced at some of the cars.

He turned his attention to some of the items on the hardly used desk when he was done looking at the board. He didn’t touch anything, but glance at some of odd little things that lined the desk. Wes turned to look at some of the things that were resting on top of the file cabinets when a sudden wave of heat ran down his spine. He froze instantly, his eyes going wide. _No_. Wes stood still for a moment just waiting to see what happened next.

Just as he was being to think he might be in the clear, and other wave of heat, this time hotter than the first, went down his spine. It was coupled by the familiar feeling of something coiling in his stomach. “Fuck,” Wes breathed as he stumbled forward a bit, grasping the back of a chair for support as the coiling tightened, and the aching started to stir. His grip on the chair tightened as the heat just seemed to consume him quicker than he was used to.

It wasn’t long till his breath started to become slightly abnormal, and he doubled over with a shout as a wave of want cursed through him. He groaned at the heat his body was feeling, and he peeled of Travis’ jacket, which he had honestly forgotten he was wearing, for relief. It didn’t come. He just seemed to find himself gripping the jacket tightly and fighting the urge to bury himself in the smell of it.

There was a sudden knock at the door, and Wes groaned, more in pain and at his luck, then in actual reply. “Wes, you alright?” Wes heard Travis’ voice on the other side of the door. _Great just what I need_. Wes thought, and he wasn’t completely sure how he thought. “Hey, I’m coming in.”

“Don’t even think about!” Wes managed to snap out.

However it was a bit too late. Wes heard the door open, and he growled, but it sounded more like a pleading whine. He heard Travis give a strangled curse, and then a low animal like growl. Suddenly Wes smelled Andrea, and heard ordering people away, and they seemed to be backed by Money. Wes just started to curl up on himself as the door slammed loudly.

“Wes,” Andrea said softly, placing her hand on Wes’ shoulder. “When was your last heat?”

“Three weeks or so,” Wes gasped out.

“Okay.” Andrea said. “I had a feeling what happened today would induced an early heat.” Wes groaned at the words. That was just the cherry on the top of the cake. “I know. Look we need to get you out of here before it really starts up.” She paused for a moment, just rubbing Wes’ shoulder. “I told Travis this might happen if you haven’t had a recent heat. He said the Sutton house was open to you, if you want to go there.”

Wes didn’t really care where he went if he could just suffer in peace. “Yeah, sure, whatever.”

He heard Andrea make as sound, and the door open and quickly shut again. He just curled up tighter as he waited for her to return. It never seemed like the universe was on his side.


	8. Here You Go Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Induced Heats were worse. They came a little faster, hit a little harder, and were just generally ten times more miserable. They knocked Omegas almost out of their own minds completely. Wes had been lucky enough to only have really experience twice in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AO3, why did you change the way pasting happens in rich text. It's ten time more work now...-glares-
> 
> Sorry this took a bit again. School is coming to and end so I've been busy with stuff.

Wes hates going into Heat with a passion, in general, for a lot of reasons. The main one being that it incapacitated him way more than he could afford for a few days. They turned him into a rather defenseless, horny, miserable mess of a person. It felt a miracle is he remember what happened during some of them. His mind could hardly think of anything past sex and getting off. Honestly, basic survival needs are like the second thing on his mind and he has to really focus to address them. His body ached and burned with need, and there hardly anything he gave any relief. It admitted pheromones that called all potential mates he didn’t want towards him.

Induced Heats were worse. They came a little faster, hit a little harder, and were just generally ten times more miserable. They knocked Omegas almost out of their own minds completely. Wes had been lucky enough to only have really experience twice in his life.

The first time had been caused by his cousin. The blow of Wes’ Omega status was new and fresh, everyone was still learning how to deal with it, especially Wes, he was fighting it all as much as he could. The two had stupidly gotten into a fight, and it set Wes off. The second time, Wes had been saved by the owner of the dinner he had managed to get a job at. An Alpha slightly older then him had worked there as well, and had made attempted to flirt his way into Wes’ pants, but their proximity had sent Wes spiraling, and naturally they could hardly grasp control. Wes had hardly managed to slip away and get to a hotel before his mind went blank.

Looking back, Wes probably should have figured something like that might happen. He knew his Heat was somewhere in the near future. All the “excitement” of that day was bound to have caused something. He should have never taken Travis jacket, or let Travis take him anywhere other than a motel or somewhere Wes knew was safe, because that had only helped it along. All he could really do was kick himself as he curled on the floor of the office of Money’s place of business just waiting for his mind shut off. The last thing he remembered was Andrea getting him into a car, before he woke up to find himself in a bed.

Wes groaned as he turned to stare up at the ceiling above him, taking a moment to collect himself. His heat was starting to fade, his body ached slightly and there was still some underlying heat, but he could think beyond the need for relief and sex. His heat wasn’t completely over, another day before he could face anyone. He didn’t even want to begin to think about how many days had passed.

Groaning slightly in pain, Wes pushed himself into a sitting position. He frowned at the feeling of the dampness of the sheets below him. He ignored the feeling of his damp clothes. He really didn’t want to think about what it was. Though he was pretty sure it was his own sweat. He wrinkled his nose at the smell of sweat and the generally aftermath of his Heat. Wes pushed the thought out of his head, and turned to glance around the room. The sight that greeted him was the room the Sutton pack had given when he first stayed there.

He let out a sigh of relief at the sight. The familiarity was nice to have; Wes had gotten use to his brain clearing with half a memory of how he ended up somewhere. Usually he had managed find a motel, or some sort of shelter before his thoughts were consumed by the heat and the need to mate.

After a moment, Wes pushed himself to the end of the bed and rose, his thirst and hunger started to reveal themselves. He cringed slightly at the stretching of his muscles and kicked off his pants that were half on, before moved towards the kitchenette. Wes opened the cabinet, happy to find some glasses there. He fixed himself a glass of water and downed it quickly. He filled the glass and drinking it again just as quickly. He repeated the process two more times before he finally began to slow down.

His stomach growled as Wes turned his attention to the fridge. He wasn’t expecting much food to be in there, it’s not like he had really given the Sutton pack time to stock it with anything, unless Andrea had helped get him settled, which she probably had. Omegas weren’t affected by other Omegas’ heats, unlike Alphas and Betas, unless their own heat was close, then it could trigger an early heat as well. Wes was happily surprised to find the fridge was reasonably stocked with food. A collection of lunch meat, fruits, energy drinks, and some other little snacks for him to eat. Wes grabbed an apple and grabbed a few other things to eat.

He turned to walk to the small table that was in the room. He noticed there was a spare set of sheets resting on one of the chairs as he placed the food down. There was a note from Andrea, saying she hoped all went well. Wes was still alive and unmated so he figured it and meant it was going well enough for him. He made a note in his head to find some way to thank her as he finished eating the apple.

Wes devoured the other things he took out of the fridge, hardly tasting any of it, really. He didn’t overly care he was so hungry. After eating he grabbed the spare sheets and headed back to the bedroom. Part of him debated changing the sheets so soon, but he didn’t know how long he had been there, and he didn’t want to think about what that meant for the sheets. He changed them anyway, dumping the old, damp sheets in the corner to be dealt with later.

Once that was done, Wes took that time to change out of the clothes he still had one. Collected his ditched pants and tossing it all towards the pile of sheets. He gave a small breath of relief, and decided to take a shower. Pushing into the bathroom the familiar feeling of heat tickling down his spine, and his hole moistening slightly, and he gave a bit of half moan and half groan. Looks like it was going to be a cold shower for him. A very cold one.

\---- ---- ----

“Well look who’s finally out of his room and back to civilization!” David greeted Wes when he saw him.

Wes turned at the sound of his voice, finding the Beta was grinning at him as he trotted up the stairs towards Wes. Wes gave David a small smile in reply as he shoved his hands in his hoodie. While his Heat was officially over, his skin was still crawling a bit from it, so he dressed looser than he usually would. “How long was I up there?” Wes asked curiously as David came to a stop at the top of the stairs by him.

“A good five days.” David informed with a shrug.

Wes nodded in reply. It made sense, seeing as how he hadn’t died from dehydration or hunger, and it sounded normal. He figured it about three days of Heat he could never hope to recall, a day where he had his head, and then the bit of the day before he came down. His Heats, on average, tended to last about four to five days in total. They had been a day or so shorter in the beginning, as most Omega heats were. The longer an Omega went unmated the longer and stronger their heats become in order to attract a mate.

“I hope it wasn’t too much trouble for everyone.” Wes said, glancing down at his feet briefly. He had noticed some attempt to contain the smell when he exited his room.

David gave a breath of a laugh, slapping his hand gently on the back of Wes’ shoulder. Wes shifted under the contact a bit, and David pulled his hand away with an apologetic smile. “I’ll admit we weren’t prepared or use to having an Omega around, but we made do.” David said proudly. “It wasn’t horrible, just a different sleeping arrangement, Travis was the only one to remove himself completely from the house.” David made his way to the door.

Wes paused for a moment. He didn’t really know how to take being told he basically drove Travis out with the smell of his Heat. Hell he wasn’t even sure how to react to the fact that a whole pack had to rearrange themselves because of his Heat. He felt guilty, he knew that, but he wasn’t sure if Travis had left because the smell was appealing or not to him. Wes doesn’t really know what his Heat smells like aside for a sort of description his tutor gave him so he would be aware to when it was start. Omegas generally started to smell a bit like their heats before they actually go into Heat. According to his tutor it was an oaky sort of smell. It didn’t help him much, he was already having to duck and cover when someone mentioned it.

“Don’t worry,” David said motion for Wes to follow him as he neared the door. “He did it because he wasn’t sure what he was going to do.”

“Oh…” Wes said slowly with a nod. Wes wasn’t sure how to respond to the fact that Travis left on his own accord so he didn’t do something to Wes, either. He glanced down at his feet for a moment unsure what to do. Maybe he should just head back to the room he was in and wait till everyone was a sleep before sneaking out and just getting out of their hair.

“Hey, Wes, relax,” David said, knocking him from his thoughts. Wes glanced up at him to find him leaning on the door handle a bit. “It wasn’t your fault, no one’s freaking out…well save you, and like I said it wasn’t horrible. So come on, everyone wants to make sure you’re okay.”

Wes hesitated slightly before he nodded. He had to remind himself that packs did that, they rearranged themselves, and looked out for each other. It was somewhat odd that the Sutton pack had gone through the trouble of rearranging themselves for someone who wasn’t even officially in their pack. It kind of scared Wes, a bit as well, that he was so willing to accept the Sutton pack as his pack. Since he was fourteen, Wes’ pack life had consisted of just him. He might have run into a wolf every so often, but he never stuck around for long enough to make bonds, or connections. This was the longest he had been with one group of wolves other than his family.

He followed after David as he turned and pushed both of the fire doors open grandly. The doors bounced off the wall a bit, form the force in which David threw them open. “Look, whose finally surfaced and graced us with his presence.” David declared as he caught the doors and pushed them up a bit more.

David moved so Wes can come into a view as he walked in slowly. Most of the pack is resting in the living room area of the floor, each shocked out of what they were doing. Kate was snuggled up in an arm chair with a book in hand. Sutton was scribbling away in a puzzle book, his glasses low on his nose, and he looked like he was surprised out of a glare. Helen was seated on the couch beside her husband, while Amy was sitting on random foot rest on Helen’s right. Both women had a hand full of cards, and there was clearly some form of a card came set out on the corner of the coffee table they were huddled around.

Kate was the one who seemed to register the fact that Wes was out of his room first. Her surprised expression turned into a warm smile. “Wes!” She greeted, placing her book mark in her book. “Nice to see you again.”

“It’s nice to be out of that room.”Wes admitted, fiddling with the end of his hoodie sleeve in his pocket. “Sorry, if I was an inconvenience, or…uh…discomfort.” Wes apologized awkwardly. He wasn’t sure what to do in this situation.

“You weren’t,” Sutton said levelly, causing Wes to turn to him. The Alpha had seemed to turn his attention back to his puzzle book. He did smile a bit though as Wes looked at him, so Wes was certain half his attention was on him. “I take it we can assume your Heat is over.”

“I wouldn’t have come done if it wasn’t.” Wes said slightly sharply, without really thinking, like it was something that should be obvious. Sutton paused for a moment and moved to look up at him.

A bit of panic stirred in his stomach when he registered what he did. He cursed a bit in his head, slightly waiting for Sutton to say. Wes technically doesn’t have a place to be snarky with anyone in wolf society, but most defiantly not an Alpha of pack. Especially not one that gave him food, shelter, and generally made sure he was safe and okay. Wes glanced at the other pack members to find them not completely uncertain. Only Kate was looking between the Alpha and Wes, but there really wasn’t too much unease come off of her.

Sutton’s face suddenly split into a wide smile, and he chuckled. “I suppose that makes sense.” Sutton said, chuckling a bit more as Wes let out a tension filled breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“Come on, Wes, sit down.” Amy said patting the chair behind her that matched the foot rest she was sitting on.

Wes hesitated for a second, before he made his way over. At first he sat lightly in the seat, should the needs to for him to bolt arise, something he was just so use to expecting. He scolded himself slightly in his head, it seemed like a silly thing to think about the pack, who had done nothing but try to help him. Slowly he eased himself back into the chair, the coolness of the leather greeting his fingers nicely. It wasn’t long till he had nestled himself in the chair rather well, pulling his legs towards him, and he let himself relax.

Everyone seemed to relax around as well. Kate had turned back to her book with a bit of a grin. David had plopped down on a blue bean bag chair as Wes has settled into his chair. The Beta was currently in the process of trying to talk Helen and Amy into dealing him into whatever game they were playing. Amy half ignored and refused them, while Helen gave them a motherly glare of “be nice”. She gave Wes a kind smile though, when she noticed he was watching their card game with some curiosity. For the life of him, Wes could figure out what they were playing, but he didn’t really overly care what it was. It was a very pack moment, and Wes didn’t seem like he was intruding or out of place, as he had at the when he first ate with them.

“So, Wes, you going to stay with us for a bit, or are you planning on leaving in the morning?” Amy asked, turning to look at Wes as she sorted the cards in her hand. Wes felt all the eyes in the room turn to him at the question.

The question caught Wes off guard for a second, and he blinked stupidly at Amy. He hadn’t really thought about what he was going to do, which was a first. Usually the moment he could processes his thoughts a bit more, he was figuring out his plan of action. Usually the moment his Heat was over, Wes packed his things and got the hell out of where he was as quickly as he could. He didn’t stick around, mainly because there wasn’t a reason to, and his body had done nothing but broadcast his location to all the werewolves in the area.

There was a part of him that knew he probably should get the hell out of there, keep wandering aimlessly in the attempts to avoid his families search dogs. Another really didn’t want to, seeing how his first attempt to leave hadn’t gone smoothly. If anything, it had been a bit of wakeup call about how dangerous his life can get if he isn’t careful, and how much he kind of missed being a part of a pack. He liked the Sutton pack too; they had done everything they probably could have to make him comfortable. But then his brain points out that Omega’s can be barging chips for packs. He didn’t know what to do, and it bothered him a bit.

“I hadn’t really given it much thought,” Wes admitted slowly, glancing down at his hands. He paused for a moment, before he looked up at them, and everyone is looking at him intently. Sutton is watching him closely. “I wouldn’t mind staying, but…” Wes trailed off. He couldn’t think of a reason that didn’t sound offensive as he glanced at the Alpha.

“It’s been a while since you’ve been in a pack,” Sutton supplied easily. Wes nodded at the words, simply because it seemed like the right thing to do at the moment. “How about you stick around for a week or so, have your hand at pack life with us, and then decide if you want to go or not.” Sutton suggested, and everyone seemed to grin at the idea.

The offer didn’t sound horrible, trial runs with other packs wasn’t unheard of for Alphas or Betas who went looking for other packs. Omegas rarely get the luxury, Wes had never really heard of it, but he figured somewhere it had to happen.

“I don’t see why not.” Wes agreed, but part of him felt like he already signed on, and Wes really didn’t care.


	9. You have Seen it All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wes sighed at himself in the mirror as he forced his hands to stop smoothing his shirt. He didn’t know why he was so nervous when he woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a bit. The semester is coming to closes and I have to move out of the dorms and into an apartment. Bare with me though.

Wes sighed at himself in the mirror as he forced his hands to stop smoothing his shirt. He didn’t know why he was so nervous when he woke up. It wasn’t like he was meeting anyone new, he was just testing out pack life with a pack he might possible join. He had seen some of it before, so he sort of knew what to expect, and he could figure out most of what he hadn’t already witnessed. So it wasn’t like he needed to make a good first impression, he had made an impression already. There was no reason for him to be nervous. Yet that’s how he had woken up.

 _You’re getting worked up over nothing, Wes._ He thought as glanced down at himself.

He frowned a bit at the fact that he was wearing a plain grey t-shirt and some jeans. It wasn’t what he would want to wear for something like this, but it was all he really had. He needed to do laundry more than he had originally thought. Part of him wished he could found salvaged at least one button up shirt, he didn’t even care if was more of the casual ones he had gotten his hands on. However, that hadn’t been his luck; they were all beyond being salvaged without a wash. So he had to put with the stupid shirt and jeans.

Running his hand down his shirt to smooth out the wrinkles he had smoothed out five minutes ago, Wes looked back up at the mirror. He sucked in a deep breath as a confidence boost that didn’t seem to really work when he exhaled. It’s now or never. He thought, straightening his shirt one last time. This was as ready as he was going to get.

He turned sharply away from the mirror and exited the bathroom quickly. Making his way into the living area of the room he was in, he passed his things. He gave them a quick glance and debated tried to see if he could find something to put over his shirt that didn’t seem thrown on. However, he shook his head and continued towards his door. He slid his shoes on, and grabbed the keys to the room, before he opened the door.

Entering the hallway, Wes closed the door, turning to lock it behind him. He still needed to do the laundry from after his Heat. Plus it made him feel a bit better. Locking his things away, secured the idea that it was going to be harder for anyone to take his things. Old habits are hard to get rid of. Wes took one more breath before he headed to the stairs.

Wes quickly made his way down the stairs to the third floor. He growled at the nervousness that was pooling in his stomach a bit as he pushed through the doors. It was rather quiet when he entered, all the noise seemed to be towards the back by the rooms, and even that was rather hushed. It sounded like everyone was just starting to wake up. Wes would admit he woke up somewhat early, a lot earlier than he would usually if he had a choice, due to his nervousness.

Grinning a bit at the sound of the pack members shuffling around in the distance as he made his way into the kitchen. Wes pulled out a glass from the cabinet and opened the fridge for a drink, when he heard the sounds of someone coming down the stair case beside the kitchen. He turned to find Helen making her way down the stairs. She smiled at him when she noticed him once she was half way down the stairs.

“Morning, Wes,” She greeted once she was at the bottom of the steps.

Wes gave her a nod and wave from behind his glass, moving out of her way. She collected some pots and pans from the cabinet and placed them on the stone. Sutton had ordered for a big pack breakfast to kick off the start of Wes’ trail period. Granted Wes had already had a meal with the whole pack the first night he was there, this apparently was a whole different thing. Sutton was a rather large believer in big welcomes, and kick off to things, as David had explained when Wes tried to tell them it wasn’t necessary. In the trials they had before, it was always something similar.

Sutton started them out with the pack doing something together, before actually breaking into pack grim and grit of the usual pack day. Apparently it was a good way to preview how the trial member would interact with the actual members. It caused less bad experiences from happening, because one could see how personalities played off each other. It was an interesting an idea, even though Wes had no doubt already interacted enough for that to really be the issue.

For that day, Sutton had planned not only for the whole pack to have a large breakfast together, but also to go for a run as well. It wasn’t something the pack got to do often together. Pack runs were more common in family units, or small, close packs. Which despite, their small size, their pack business didn’t completely allow it.

It didn’t sound bad. Maybe for once, Wes could enjoy himself in wolf form like he use to before the whole Omega fact came out. He couldn’t have to look over his shoulder, or worry about someone stumbling on to his things, or worse something attacking him when he had no back up. Granted, packs still had to worry about some things too, but it wasn’t so much of the worry as Wes was use too.

“You seem to be up rather early, Wes.” Helen comment as she collected some ingredients from the fridge. “Sleep well?”

“Reasonably,” We said with a shrug. Compared to other nights he had sleep before, it looked like it was a gift from God. Still it paled into comparison of the first night he was there where he slept somewhat past his want for an early start. “I rose earlier than usual today for some reason.”

“Nerves,” Helen said easily. “Relax, you’ll do fine, Mike and the pack had yet to turn down someone who had expressed an interest in joining.” Wes made a small sound. That fact did help him relax a bit. “Do you want to help me with breakfast?” Helen asked after a moment. “Might get your mind off some things.”

Wes blinked at her for a moment, before he nodded. Rounding the counter, he let her direct him to where she wanted him. It took them a while to find their way around each other at first. Wes was being careful to not her path because it was her kitchen, and she was trying to offer him assistance because he was somewhat lost in it all. Not to say that Wes wasn’t completely lost in a kitchen, he had learned how to cook from some of the betas in the kitchen at his family home. He also had to cook for himself after he ran away, and he was extremely lucky if he could get his hands on his kitchen. It’s just the Sutton pack had their kitchen a certain way, and Wes, in the two times he used it, hadn’t learned it yet. Helen didn’t have him doing anything too big the first time he helped her, and Paekman and Amy had been a help when he made breakfast the morning he tried to leave. It was a lot different. Helen didn’t mind thought and eventually they found a rhythm together.

As Helen put the biscuits in the oven, there was the sound of the doors to the stairs opening. Wes glanced up, to find Travis pushing through the doors. He was in the same jeans, but a different Hurley than what he was wearing when Wes’ went into heat. He was holding a small duffle bag over his shoulder, and Wes couldn’t help but notice there was a slight spring in his step as he strolled in. Travis dropped his stuff in the corner of the couch, taking a big breath the nose like he was relieved to be back. He paused and turned to suddenly look at the kitchen.

“You’re still here,” Travis pointed out when his eyes fixed on Wes. He sounds like he was a little caught off guard by the fact, though Wes couldn’t think of a reason why.

Wes blinked at him for a moment. “Where else would I be?” He asked.

The Alpha opened his mouth to say something, almost like there was something smart on his tongue, but it seemed to die when his brain thought about it. “I don’t know,” Travis admitted with a shrug. “I just figured you would have been bolted the moment your Heat was over.”

“Oh,” Wes said quietly. It wasn’t actually a very far out thing to think about Wes. “I decided to stay awhile."

It was Travis’ turn to make the surprised ‘oh’ sound as he nodded and slowly took the information. “Didn’t David tell you when he gave you the all clear to come back?” Helen asked behind Wes. Wes turned to find her looking between them with a look like she knew the answer the question. Travis just shook his head, and Helen sighed and rolled her eyes. “Right, well, Wes is thinking of joining the pack.” Helen said, leaving the rest of what that implied in the air for Travis to catch.

“Really?” Travis asked turning to look at Wes quickly. The look on his face was like he was trying wrap his mind around the fact, but it was proving to be slightly more difficult than he thought. The blonde gave him a nod in reply, watching Travis and he neared the island of the kitchen. “Why?”

Wes gave a shrug at first. He wasn’t really sure why he wanted to stay. There wasn’t really a reason. It just seemed to sort of feel wrong to leave after everything they had done for him. Plus they were the first ones to look at him as just another one of the own instead of a male Omega in a while. Not to mention, he was no doubt safer in a pack than on his own, he wouldn’t always have to look over his shoulder. “I guess, I missed pack life or something.” Wes admitted.

He turned to tend to a pan on the stove, feeling Travis’ eyes on him. The feeling didn’t ultimately bother him like it usually did when he felt someone watching him. In fact it felt different, but he could seem to figure out how. Wes turned kept his attention on cooking and tried to let the feeling of Travis’ eyes on him fall into the background.

“Travis!” David’s voice suddenly sounded. “You’ve returned!” He declared as Wes heard Travis turned to acknowledge him.

“Of course I have,” Travis replied. “You told me to be back before breakfast or Cap would have my head. So here I am.”

“Cutting it a bit close, don’t you think?” Wes commented as he flipped a sausage patty.

Travis growled in annoyance, and Wes felt his gaze on him for a second. “I got here on time. Helen and you are still cooking breakfast, and half the pack isn’t ready yet.” Wes turned at Travis to glare at him; Travis held it for a second. Wes huffed, and Travis smirked slightly before turning to David who was pouring himself a glass of orange juice. “However if Paekman had mentioned that fact that Wes was staying for a trail week maybe I would have come sooner.”

“Hey, I thought you were going to come back the moment I gave you the all clear.” David said easily from behind his glass. “Though you did sound previously engaged on the phone.” Travis growled lowly in warning, but David just seemed to chuckle at it. “Doesn’t matter, I thought the fact would be a nice surprise for when you got back.”

“It was a surprise alright.” Travis grumbled. “I just don’t think it was a good one.”

“Hey!” Wes snapped with a growl, turning with a sharp glare to Travis. The Alpha was turning away, making his way back to the bag he had dumped on the course. Wes’ growl seemed to go unnoticed by him.

Wes gave a small growl in annoyance, before he turned to look around for something to grab. He had a sudden urge to just throw something at Travis, mainly because it would get him some attention. It was odd, usually he wouldn’t mind if an Alpha ignored him, unless he was telling them off, but Travis just seemed to have a way of affecting him differently. Wes grinned as he found a wooden spoon on the left side of the stove. He quickly snatched it up and tossed it with speed and force he could muster.

The bowl of the wooden spoon, hit Travis square in the back of the head, with small sound of wood snapping. Travis stopped dead in his tracks, cringing a bit and putting his hand where the spoon hit. David froze, his eyes flickering between the two, and it looked like he was holding back some laughs. Helen was dead silent beside Wes, she had caught the tail end of Wes throwing, and no she was just trying to see what was going to happen. Wes’ smile widened for a moment, before Travis started to turn and look at him. The smile drained away a bit as Wes realized that wasn’t the smartest thing to do, especially on the first day of his trail run.

“Ow!” Travis said making a face. “What was that for?”

“Just testing the hardness of your head.” Wes said smartly as he straightened up.

Travis just blinked at him for a moment before let out a breath of a laugh and turning back to his back, and storming towards his room. Wes tuned back to cooking. He heard David burst into laughter and make a comment about how they broke the spoon. It was definitely an interesting start to a day.

\----  -----  -----

Breakfast went off without a hitch, despite the whole spoon throwing. It was an isolated event that Travis seemed to get over quickly. After all Wes had bitten him, stabbed a knife a centimeter from his finger, and swung at him with a pipe. Travis hadn’t made much of those events, though two of them were more defensive than anything else, the other was done out of disease. Aside from David, Kate, and Amy teasing him, it seemed like he just chalked the whole thing up to Wes being Wes. So there was no confrontation or something like that at the table. Granted, Travis and Wes had been seated at opposite ends of the table David between them, in case something didn’t happen.

It was all fine however, and breakfast wrapped up quickly. After David and Amy finished washing and drying the dishes while Kate put them away, Sutton checked to make sure everyone was ready for the run. It wasn’t too long after that everyone was heading out the door, arguing about who was driving and where they were going. Wes stayed quiet, letting them figure out what they were going to do then tell him.

Amy wins the driving argument, because David drove last time, Travis had a motorcycle, and Kate’s was in shop. They agree to meet Mike and Helen at some point Wes had never heard of, but he hadn’t heard of a lot of places. However before they pile in the car, there is a whole other debate about who should seat where. Apparently they still wanted to so some peace keeping between Travis and Wes, or not give them a chance to rub each other the wrong way. It didn’t matter how much Travis told them nothing would happen. Neither Kate nor David wanted to seat between them, and two Alphas in the front just seemed like a bad idea. Ultimately Wes ended up sitting shot gun.

The car ride there was a rather uneventful forty-five minutes. Everyone made polite conversation, and there was only some slight banter of sorts between Travis and Wes. David asked what Travis did with his nights away from the pack, to which he gave an undescriptive answer, which had both Kate and Amy rolling their eyes. Amy leaned over to fill in that basically meet Travis had bed hoping in the company of humans. Wes shot Travis a look, not an overly judging one, after all it was only a few days ago that Wes mess of pheromones and in need of relief. After that the conversation turned elsewhere.

When they arrived, Sutton and Helen were waiting for them by some abandoned looking farm house. It was looked like it was rooting and falling apart, hardly even looking habitable for people. There were a few other parked around the house, which didn’t help too much with the feel of it. Wes was honestly a bit surprised at how well everyone was taking it.

“This place is owned by some packs in the city, ours included.” Travis said Wes pushed open the passenger side door and got out of the car. The Omega turned to him. “It’s a safe place for use to shift and leave our things. Humans see this place and thing now one’s around, or something illegal is happening, and just get the hell out here.” Travis supplied with a grin.

“Smart.” Wes said glancing around.

He had wondered how more urban packs when running. Wes had always just had his family’s vast estate to run around without worry of being seen. He glanced around the area one more time as he closed his door. He followed after the pack as they made their way to the forest, walking a few steps beside them. Travis seemed to hold back a bit in his steps as well, not even out seem like he was he doing, but enough for Wes to notice. The pack disappeared among the trees once they were in them some ways. Travis was leaning on a tree waiting for Wes to near, and he pushed himself off as Wes reached him.

“Where—?” Wes asked when he noticed the pack wasn’t in sight.

“Stripping,” Travis supplied with a grin, which made Wes frown at him. “Some people like their privacy.” He said as he pulled off his shirt over his head.

“And you don’t,” Wes said slowly, and Travis just shrugged as he went for his pants. Wes turned away quickly, feeling his cheeks heat up. “I’ll go find a place shift.” Wes said quickly and hurried off to behind some tree.

He could hear the Alpha chuckling behind him, Wes ignored him. He let out a breath once he was behind a tree, leaning against to collect himself. He didn’t know why he was getting so worked up, suddenly. People shifting in front of him never really had been a problem; it wasn’t something unheard of in the werewolf community, not that wanting some privacy while doing it was. If anything it showed how his time away from a pack had gotten to him. He wasn’t use to shifting with company.

“Wes, you coming.” Travis called suddenly knocking him from his thoughts.

“Yeah…just…just hold on.” Wes shouted, tearing off his shirt and pants. He folded them nicely and placed them close to the truck of the tree, and then he shifted.


	10. The Rising of the Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shifting isn’t painful, but it that doesn’t mean it’s painless either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is like super short. I messed up when I was writing it and thought it was longer but I was wrong. I just realized it now and I can't squeeze something in other. So anyway, sorry.
> 
> Also sorry this took a while to get up. I'm taking Summer classes and I'm still figuring out my schedule. I'm taking Japanese online and creative writing currently. So everyone bare with me a bit. Hopefully I'll get a bit better now that I have school and turn to this as ways to relax...

Shifting isn’t painful, but it that doesn’t mean it’s painless either. Turning into something else requires some rearranging of the body, which in itself sound painful. It’s somewhere in the middle, though, and one just sort of gets use to it over time. It helps that the shifting progress isn’t drawn out as well. It’s reasonably quick. Werewolves can shift in a single leap if they need too, but a normal shift can take five to ten seconds, fifteen at the most.

Wes shifts into his grey and tan wolf form in six, shakes off the feeling of shifting before he joined the others. Travis was waiting from in his black wolf form, front paws on a tree root, tail wagging and ears perked up at the sight of him. The Alpha hopped down from the root down the slight slope of the forest ground as Wes neared, joining the rest of the pack there that was waiting patiently.

Carefully, Wes made his way down towards them as well, head down a bit, slightly unsure who everyone was for a moment. However he instantly noticed Kate’s scent to be the white wolf that was closest to him when he walked down. Amy was the dark brown watching him curiously beside her. Wes figured the largest wolf, who was sitting some distance away from him, was Sutton. He was a bit grey wolf, more solid grey though that Wes’ mix of grey, white, and tan. Helen had more of a paler fur color sitting beside him. That left David to be the light brown wolf that seemed to be giving Travis quiet a playful go.

They seemed to give him a moment to figure who everyone was, and go comfortable in their little pack of wolf forms. Sutton didn’t rise till Wes had raised his head a bit and visually seemed to relax. He gave a growl to get everyone’s attention; Travis and David were still having playfully goes at each other and not paying much attention. They stopped briefly and turned as the others got to their feet as well. Sutton made a motion with his head as he turned and took off running, leading the pack forward, Helen following close by his side.

David gave a bark and one last playful bounce at Travis, before shooting off after Sutton at full speed. Travis paused for a moment, and turned to look at Wes, as an invite to chase David or just join him for a moment. Wes blinked at him and standing relatively still, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. Suddenly there was a flash of dark brown, and a playful sound from David in front of him. He hit the ground playfully with his paws, tail in the air wagging. He gave a small snip at Wes, being completely considerate of space. Wes glanced at him, and the Beta wagged his tail, flicking his eyes towards Travis, then shooting off again.

For some reason, Wes tore off after him. It felt good to run after someone. He hadn’t done it since his first Heat. His parents and tutor had frowned up on it and basically banned him from doing it, as they did with most of the other things in his life. He could get hurt or worse get the idea in his head that he could be the one with the power. Not to mention after two years of being basically being chased, it was nice to finally go after something that wasn’t a rabbit or animal to eat.

Wes slowed to a stop when he lost David’s scent for a moment. He had become very good at tracking in his time spent running, he had to in order to survive. His search for the beta’s scent was suddenly cut short David suddenly mowing him over. David rolled to his feet, tail wagging, despite Wes’ growl of surprise. Wes rolled onto his stomach, keeping himself relatively calm by reminded himself it was a game of sorts. There was a subtle want to run away and shift back and just get out of there whirling around in his mind. Yet, he knew David didn’t mean any harm to him, and it helped.

David’s tail came to a bit of stop as he realized his slight mistake when Wes took a moment to collect himself. The Beta approached him slowly. He kept his head a bit low and carefully sniffed at Wes, trying to see if everything was okay. However, he didn’t get too close in his approach, no a blur of black fur and Travis’ scent knocked him over.

Wes gave a surprised sound as he sprang to his feet, Travis just turned to look at him with his tail wagging and ears perked up. He didn’t seem to come off overly concerned about anything as he looked at the Omega. He looked more like an excited pup than anything else. Wes blinked at him in return, tilting his head a bit. David rolled onto his feet after a moment of registering what happened. He pounced at Travis playfully, when he noticed the Alpha was glancing at Wes.

The two rolled around for a moment, growling and making noises at each other. Travis easily out does David, not to say that David didn’t give Travis a descent go. They stop fighting after a moment and David took off sprinting again. Travis turned to Wes, motioning with his head for them to go after him.

They both took off after him together.

\----  ----  ----

The run with the pack went better then Wes expected. He actually had a decent time. He allowed for himself to loosen up and actually have some fun. Travis, David, and him chased each other around for a good two hours, before Kate joined in because David plowed over her. After some time Travis had seemed to annoy Amy into running around as well. The chasing lasted for another hour or so, before Wes took shelter from the heat in some shade.

He hadn’t had this amount of exorcise all at once in a long time. He was actually surprised he hadn’t called it quits earlier. Wes’ rest didn’t go unnoticed for long; Travis noticed his disappearance and went in search of Wes. He didn’t bother Wes much when he did find him. However, Wes did give him a warning growl, which Travis huffed and plopped down beside Wes. Well that was till Kate went came looking for them.

All in all, it went rather well. He only got into one tiff with Travis when no one was around. Travis had been slightly annoying him and Wes snapped, and caught Travis by surprise, so naturally he responded. The Alpha had technically had the upper hand, but Wes wasn’t going to let that stop him from anything. Wes couldn’t be sure if he won because he was prescient or if Travis let him. It didn’t matter, because Amy stumbled upon them and it was enough to solidify that separation between them in the car again on the way home.

Sutton called everyone back a little as the sun started to sink into the sky. The pack shifted and got back in their clothes, noisily making their way back to the car, arguing and laughing about where to eat. Mike and Helen left with shaking heads and a promise to see everyone back at the house that evening, as Travis and Amy shouted at each other over the roof of the car. Kate just rolled her eyes and explained that the Alpha couple usually went for their own dinners after pack runs, leaving the rest of the pack to go where they wanted.

Eventually they settled for a buffet on the back to the pack house that was apparently owned by another pack. Dinner wasn’t much aside from loud and a lot of reaching over each other. Wes was rather silent, just sort of observing them, and maybe throwing a comment in every once in a while. Dinner wrapped up after about two hours and they headed back.

They returned to the pack house as darkness started to settle in. Wes found himself battling to keep his eyes open, and figured just turn in and try to get some of his laundry done as they started up the stairs. He found a note stuck to his door. He peeled of his door as he opened his door. Pushing to the room he scanned over the note and placing it on the counter. Wes made his way to his bag to grab his last pair of pajamas. He stopped however when his brain resister what it said. Whipping around he grabbed the note and read it again.

Shit, why did Sutton think it was a good idea to have Wes partner with Travis for a day. Groaning he made his way to back to his cloths and tried to focus on laundry.


End file.
